487 
57 
>y 1 



Essentials of 

Successful Poultry Keeping 



BY 

E. J. W. DIETZ 




Essentials 



OF 



Successful Poultry Keeping 



BY 

E. J. W. DIETZ 

Secretary National Exhibition Game Club 



Published by 

AMERICAN PUB. CO., 

736 Cornelia Ave., Chicago, Ills. 

1912 



^■x^ 

>■ 






Copyrighted 

1912 

E. J. W. DIETZ 



©CIA330203 



INTRODUCTORY 



Everybody who has followed the 
development of the poultry interests 
in this country during the past few 
years knows that we have made won- 
derful progress in our knowledge and 
methods of caring for these profit 
producing animals. 

This work has been taken up and 
carried on by both state and private 
parties and the results of these re- 
searches have given us a great mass 
of reading matter which is difficult 
for the beginner to analize and under- 
stand; because the same results have 
been arrived at in so many different 
ways. 

With a hope of classifying these 
various conclusions and pointing out 
the fallacy or showing how imprac- 
tical some of these theories really are 
under our present average condition, 
I have undertaken to produce this 
book. 

I do not assume infallability in 
this subject but having followed poul- 
try k-eeping from my childhood and 
having made some success in breed- 
ing and exhibiting various varieties 
of bantams — the most artificial and 
difficult of all the kinds of fowls to 
rear — and having been compelled to 
read and study many authors and con- 
fer with many practical men in order 
to make any progress in this art, I as- 
sume this task with confidence. 



My fellow fanciers have honored 
me by causing my appointment as 
judge to place the ribbons on the 
Games and Bantams — the most ar- 
tistic of all domestic fowls — on four 
diiferent occasions in Chicago Poultry 
Show and every year I have been com- 
pelled to turn away invitations to 
judge and score poultry because it 
would interfere with my regular busi- 
ness. 

Poultry keeping is easily learnt. 
The greatest difficulty is in picking 
out the essentials, and it is my hope 
in this work to give the specific se- 
crets which will lead to success. 

As it is essential in studying any 
art that the student first know the 
names of the necessary tools and im- 
plements, I have planned to give first, 
an outline of the various Varieties of 
Poultry; second, The Characteristics 
of Fowls; third. Feed and Feeding 
Facts and follow with chapters on the 
profitable Secrets of Caring for and 
Rearing Fowls. 

I feel very grateful to all who have 
lent their aid in helping me to accom- 
plish the details of this work and with 
the hope that it will prove a real aid 
in classifying some of our poultry se- 
crets so my readers will reap richer 
rewards, I pass this work along. 

E. J. W. DIETZ, 
Chicago, Ills. 




The Parts Named 

1. Comb; 2, Face; 3, Wattles; 4, Ear-lobe; 5. Hackle; 6, Breast; 7, Back; 8, Saddle; 
9, Saddle Hackle; 10, Main Sickle Feathers; 11, Tail Coverts; 12, Main Tail Feathers 
13, Wing-bow; 14, Wing Coverts; 15, Primaries or Flight Feathers; 16, Body; 17, Front 
of Breast Bone; 18, Thighs; 19, Hack; 20, Shank; 21, Spur; 22, Toes. 



Explanation of Terms 



Clutch — A setting of eggs or brood of 

chickens. 
Cockerel — A young male. 
Crest — A tuft of feathers on the head. 
Cushion — The feathers which surround the 

tail in Asiatic breeds. 
Deaf Ears — The ear lobes. 
Dubbing — The removing of the comb and 

wattles. 
Face — The bare part around the eyes. 
Flights — The long quill feathers of the 

wing. 
Fluff — The soft feathering below the tail. 
Furnished — A bird is said to be furnished 

when it is fully developed in plumage 

and body. 
Gills— The wattles. 
Hackles — The long, narrow feathers on the 

neck. 
Hen Feathered— A male bird is so des- 
cribed when he has the plumage of the 

female. 
Hock — The second joint from the ground, 

intermediate between the foot and thigh. 
Keel — The breast bone. 
Mossy — Clouded markings. 
Pea Comb — A triple comb. 
Penciling — The fine markings on a feather. 

Primeuries— The long feathers of the 

wing which are concealed when it is 

closed. 
Pullet— A young female bird. 
Saddle — The short feathers on the back 

next the tail. 
Secondaries — The hard feathers in the wing 

which show when it is closed. 
Shafts — The quill of a feather. 
Shank^ — The part of the leg between the 

foot and the hock. 
Sickles— The long curved feathers in the 

male bird's tail. 
Spangling — The dark spots on the feathers 

of certain breeds. 



Squirrel Tail — A tail that is carried too 

much over the back. 
Tail Coverts— The short feathers at the 

sides of the tail. 
Vulture Hocks — Hard feathers attached to 

the hocks. 

Wing Bar — The dark lines across the wings 
of certain breeds. 

Wing Bow — The top part of the wing. 

Wing Butts — The end of the wing. 

Beard— A tuft of feathers under the bill 
of a chicken, or the tuft of course 
hair projecting from the upper part of 
the mature male turkey. 

Cape— The short feathers on the upper 
part of the body underneath the neck 
hackle. 

Carnucles— The small fleshy pertuberancet 
on the head of a turkey. 

Chick— The young of the domestic fowl 
before their sex can be determined. 

Disqualification — A defect according to the 
Standard of Perfection which -nakes a 
bird unworthy of a prize. The com- 
mon disqualifications arc: lack of size or 
weight in the large breeds; character- 
istics which indicate crossing to gain 
size or color; deformaties in any part 
of the body; missing feathers or artific- 
ial tampering with the natural condit- 
ion of the bird. 

Parti-colored — Plumage which has two or 
more colors. 

Rose Comb — A low comb, flat on top and 
covered with small pertuberances, term- 
inating in a spike behind. 

Self-colored — Consisting of one color of 
plumage only throughout. 

Serrations— The points of a single comb. 

Under-color — The color of the downy 
portion of the feather. 

V-Shaped Comb — Having two well de- 
fined horn like spikes. 

Wry-tail- Having a tail twisted or posit- 
ively turned to one side. 




Light Brahmas. 







Black Langshans 

8 



Chapter 1. Varieties of Fowls 



Throughout this book I have shown 
illustrations of some of the leading 
varieties of fowls reared in this coun- 
try. This will help to designate the 
various breeds, but the pictures can 
only show the general outline and 
give only a suggestion of the color so 
I will try to give a word description 
which will help to make the selection 
of the various breeds easier. 

The pure-bred fowl to pass the poul- 
try judge and gain a prize must con- 
form to certain shapes and carry 
plumage of specific color or colors. 
"The American Standard of Perfec- 
tion" published by the American Poul- 
try Association and for sale at any 
poultry journal office or book store 
gives specific details about these re- 
quired shapes and colors. But it will 
not be out of place to give here some 
explanation of their classification and 
some historical facts about the breeds 
which the "Standard" does not at- 
tempt. 

Our domestic poultry is divided in- 
to two classes: Land-fowl and Water- 
fowl. The land-fowl comprise Chick- 
ens, Turkeys and Guinea Fowl. The 
water-fowl are the Ducks and Geese. 

Chickens may be divided into 
three great divisions: 1st, those which 
tend to grow large and produce meat, 
as the Asiatic; 2nd, those which have 
as their strongest characteristic the 
tendency to produce eggs, as the Leg- 
horn; and, 3rd, those which do not 
grow so large as the Asiatics, and yet 
have a goodly amount of meat and at 
the same time approach the Leghorns 
in their egg-producing tendency, as 
the American variety. 

It seems a strange coincidence that 
while these three classes can be dis- 
tinguished by their size as, 1st, large; 
2nd, small; and 3rd, medium; they 
can also be determined by the size 



and shape of their tails. The Asiatic 
has a small and spreading tail, the 
Leghorn has a long tail, and the Ame- 
rican a medium tail. 

A.— ASIATIC. 

COCHINS. — Large, deep-bodied, 
massive birds, well-furnished with 
long, fluffy feathers which enable 
them to withstand climatic changes. 
They endure confinement well, sel- 
dom flying over a three-foot fence. 
Cochii.s are considered inferior to 
Brahmas, both regarding egg-produc- 
tion and meat-growing quajities. Their 
sedate movements and beautiful plum- 
age have gained for them many ad- 
mirers. The standard weights are — 
cock, 11 lbs.; cockerel, 9 lbs.; hen, 
81/2 lbs.; pullet, 7 lbs. 

BUFF COCHINS.— Color— a rich, 
deep, clear, buff or golden tan, uni- 
form in both male and female. In 
breeding practice, however, we find 
few specimens which do not have 
either black or white in wing or tail 
feathers. Of course, this is undesir- 
able, but as buff is a made color — it 
seems as soon as we breed out the 
black the white comes in — therefore 
birds intended to breed exhibition 
stock should be selected with great 
care. 

PARTRIDGE COCHINS.— While of 
the same weight as the Buif, the Part- 
ridge are usually smaller in size and 
lower down in carriage. The males 
are similar in color to the Black Red 
Game or Brown Leghorn. The neck 
and back is a golden red, and the 
breast and under parts a glossy, 
greenish black. The neck feathers of 
the female are a golden yellow striped 
with black, and the rest of the body 
feathers are brown with two strips of 
black running through each feather 
parallel with its outer edge. 




Buff Cochins 



WHITE COCHINS have pure white 
plumage. BLACK COCHINS have 
pure greenish blaclv plumage. 

BR AH MAS are our largest variety 
of poultry — they lay large brown eggs, 
are good sitters, and do well in con- 
finement. The standard weights are — 
cock, i2 lbs.; cockerel, 10 lbs.; hen, 
91/2 lbs.; pullet, 8 lbs. 

LIGHT BRAHMAS are mostly 
white in color as seen in the cut, some 
of the f-eathers are laced with black, 
and in addition the flight feathers are 
black striped with white. It is a sin- 
gular fact, and illustrates a defect in 
our poultry knowledge, that while 
every one looks upon the Brahma as a 
meat breed, one breeder at least has 
developed a Light-Brahma egg-laying 
strain that has eclipsed th-e Leghorn 
fowl, although the specimens I have 
seen of this breed were undersize and 
otherwise deficient in characteristic 
make-up. 



DARK BRAHMA.— These are simi- 
lar to the Partridge Cochin in color, 
except where the latter male is gold 
and red, the Dark Brahma is silver, 
and the female instead of having 
brown and black striped feathers has 
silver and black striped feathers. 
Otherwise they conform to the Brah- 
ma description in shape and char- 
acteristics. 

LANGSHANS.— A large, hardy 
fowl; good winter layers of dark brown 
eggs, with a purplish tinge; sitters, 
and full feathered, although the feath- 
ers are not as long and fluffy as the 
Brahma or Cochin. Standard weights 
are — cock, 10 lbs.; cockerel, 8 lbs.; 
hen, 7 lbs.; pullet, 6 lbs. 

BLACK LANGSHANS conform to 
the above characteristics, and both 
male and female, when in good condi- 
tion, have a beautiful bottle-green 
plumag>e. Their white skin and dark 
shanks are against them in American 
markets. 




Single Comb White Leghorns. 




Rose Comb White Leghorns. 

11 




Single Comb 

WHITE LANGSHANS are not kept 
in any great numbers in America, and 
for some reason are not popular. It 
would appear, however, " that they 
have been used in developing the 
white varieties of poultry, especially 
where size is a consideration. 

B.— EUROPEAN. 

I believe I was the first to name this 
one class of poultry. It is well known 
that practically all th-e varieties of 
poultry originated and developed in 
Europe have the egg-laying tendency 
as a predominating characteristic, and 
therefore why not make a general 
class of these? And, if there are any 
varieties that do not fit this class let 
us put them where they belong, even 
though it disturbs some of our old- 
time-honored usages. I hold the Eur- 
opean as a class which includes those 
varieties which have as a predominat- 
ing characteristic the tendency to 
produce a large number of eggs. They 
are generally non-sitters, are small in 
size, and have large, well-developed 
combs and tails, and are active and 
good foragers. 



^i i^\—~ — 



Buff Leghorns. 

LEGHORNS are a typical example 
of the European class. They lay a 
white-shelled egg, and seem to thrive 
under ordinary care. The Standard 
does not require any specific weight, 
but lately th-e tendency has been to in- 
crease the size. Whether the egg-yield 
will increase with the size is a doubt- 
ful question, but size does increase 
the value of the Leghorn as a table 
fowl. 

BROWN LEGHORNS are both sin- 
gle and rose combed. In color the 
plumage of the male is similar to the 
Black Red Games and Partridge Coch- 
in. The hackle and saddle feathers 
are yellow with a black stripe down 
the center of each feather. The lower 
half of the flight feathers are bay; 
the wing fronts black; the back and 
wing bows bright red; the wing cov- 
erts a greenish black forming a black 
bar across the wing; the breast and 
tail a brilliant greenish black. The 
female has hackle yellow with a black 
stripe down the center of each feath- 
er; back and wings are brown, pen- 




Single Comb Brown Leghorns 



ciled with a darker brown; the breast 
rich salmon; tail dull black except 
two top feathers which are penciled 
with brown. 

WHITE LEGHORNS are both sin- 
gle and rose combed and both male 
and female are pure white in plum- 
age. 

BLACK LEGHORNS.— Male and 
female both have pure greenish black 
plumage and come with single comb 
only. 

BUFF LEGHORNS are buff 
throughout like the Buff Cochins and 
are single comb only. 

SILVER DUCKWING AND RED 
PYLE LEGHORNS are now coming in- 
to favor. In plumage they are similar 
to the Game varieties of the same 
name and single combed only. 

MINORCAS are a larger fowl than 
the Leghorns, although their general 
characteristics are similar. They lay 
a larger white egg, are non-sitters, 
and have standard weights as follows: 



Cock, 9 lbs.; cockerel, 7% lbs.; hen, 
714 lbs.; pullet, 61/2 lbs. These weights 
apply only to the single-comb blacks. 
The rose-comb blacks and single-comb 
white aro allowed one pound less for 
each specimen. Minorcas are only of 
two kinds, white and black, the white 
being a pure white throughout, and 
the black a greenish black. 

SPANISH are known only in one 
color as the White-Faced BlackT so 
named because of the peculiar growth 
of white in the flesh forming the face. 
In other respects they are similar to 
the Single-Comb Black Minorcas. The 
Standard weights are — Cock, 8 lbs.; 
cockerel 6i^ lbs.; hen, 6% lbs.; pul- 
let, 5% lbs. As chicks they seem to 
be delicate, but when a few months 
old they ar^^ hardy, generally speaking 
they require more careful attention 
than the Leghorns. They have long 
been a favorite fowl in Europe, espe- 
cially in England. 



13 




Blue Andalusians. 




Silver Spangled Hamburgs. 



BLUE ANDALUSIANS are another 
variety conforming to our description 
of the European class, and in many 
respects resembling the Minorcas. In 
fact, some have declared they have 
been produced by the blending of color 
of the White and Black Minorca. They 
are a slaty blue throughout in plum- 
age, and have standard weights as 
follows: Cock, 6 lbs.; cockerel, 5 lbs.; 
hen, 5 lbs.; pullet, 4 lbs. 



ANCONAS are another European 
variety, with a propensity for egg- 
production. The American Standard 
requires a shape the same as the Leg- 
horn, but English descriptions and 
breeders favor the Minorca type of 
bird. The plumage is a greenish 
ground color, each feather being tip- 
ped and splashed with white. This 
gives the bird a beautiful mottled ef- 
fect which is very striking. 




Barred Plymouth Rocks. 



POLISH, formerly called Polands 
on account of their "polled" or crested 
character, have been found in South 
Russia, where they were famous for 
their egg-production. They have not 
met with much favor in America be- 
cause few of us know how to handle 
them successfully. They have a small 
V-shaped comb, and right back of the 
comb a regular crysanthemum clump 
of feathers called a crest. During the 



breeding season these crest feathers 
should he clipped closely so the bird 
can see its enemies. It is also claimed 
the eggs are more fertile when the 
crest is clipped. In color there are 
several varieties: White Crested 
Black, Bearded Golden (the bearded 
have a clump of feather instead of 
wattles). Bearded Silver, Bearded 
White, Buff Laced, Non-Bearded Gold- 
en, Non-Bearded Silver, and Non- 
Bearded White. 




White Plymouth Rocks. 



THE DUTCH OR HAMBURG are 
kept chiefly for their egg-producing 
tendencies. They are not as hardy as 
the Leghorn, are non-sitters, and lay 
a white-shelled egg. In color they 
are found as Gold-en Spangled, Silver 
Spangled, Golden Penciled, Silver Pen- 
ciled, White and Black. The spangles 
are formed by a V-shaped black spot 
on the end of each feather, and the 
penciling is formed by a finely pen- 
ciled bar across each feather. 

ENGLISH RED CAPS are classi- 
fied by the American Standard in the 
English class, but they belong, I be- 
lieve, with the other European varie- 
ties. They are similar to the Golden 
Spangled Hamburg, only larger and 
coarser and instead of having a V- 
shaped tip on the feathers the black 
tip is moon-shaped. 

The French have three varieties 



of fowl which are recognized in the 
American Standard: The Houdan, the 
Crevecoeurs and the La Fleche. The 
Houdan belongs to our European class 
and is a good, practical fowl, although 
having a cr^st similar to the Polish 
prevents it from gaining favor among 
farmers, as a crested fowl can be 
caught easily by its enemies. They 
lay a white-shelled egg, are non-sit- 
ters, and their feathers are black and 
white mottled. Standard weights: 
Cock, 7 lbs.; cockerel, 6 lbs.; hen. 6 
lbs.; pullets, 5 lbs. 

The Crevecoeurs and La Fleche 
both show Polish origin, the latter 
have some appearance of Spanish in 
their make-up, so they properly belong 
to the European class. They are very 
rare in America and have lost favor in 
France, having been driven out by 
more profitable varieties. 



16 




White Wyandottes. 



C— AMERICAN. 

This variety is the crowning glory 
of American poultry men and are our 
great utility fowl. They have been 
called American because they were 
originated h'ere by crossing certain 
fowls which were quite numerous 
years ago and which have been devel- 
oped into what are now known as 
Dominiques, with certain other varie- 
ties. The exact crosses have not been 
recorded, and if they were they would 
be useless because no one would care 
to start all over again. 

These varieties in the American 
class are, par excellence, farmer's 
fowls. They are hardy, quick-grow- 
ing, good layers, good sitters and moth- 
ers, have flesh of rich yellow color and 



good flavor, and are a fair, average 
size. The meat is not of as fine tex- 
ture as the Cochin, nor as fine flavor 
as the Game. While they have not as 
much reputation as the Leghorns for 
egg production, yet in several con- 
tests in which Leghorns and other 
varieties were competing, American 
class birds have come off with first 
honors. 

PLYMOUTH ROCKS were the first 
variety to gain favor. They lay a 
brown-shelled egg and Standard 
weights are: Cock, 9% lbs.; cockerel, 
8 lbs.; hen, 71/2 lbs.; pullet, 6V2 lbs. 
The legs and toes are free from feath- 
ering and the flesh is a rich yellow. 
In color they are four kinds — Barred, 
White, Buff and Silver Penciled. 




ri:dt^4--*4 



Buff Wyandottes. 




II 



Silver Laced Wyandotte. 

18 




Columbian Wyandottes. 



WYANDOTTES are smaller than 
the Plymouth Rock and Standard 
weights are less: Cock, 8i/^ lbs.; 
cockerel, 7% lbs.; hen, 6V2 lbs.; pul- 
let, 51/^ lbs. In color we have Silver 
Laced. Each feather has a center of 
white and an edging of black. The 
back of the male is silver. Golden 
Laced in which the center of feather 
is golden red with black edging and 
top color of male is golden. White, 
Buff and Black are solid color through- 
out in both male and female. The 
Partridge is similar to the Partridge 
Cochins and Silver Penciled similar to 
the Dark Brahma, and the Columbian 
similar to the Light Brahma. 

THE JAVAS are a fairly hardy 
variety resembling the Plymouth 
Rocks in general characteristics, and 
have the same standard weights. They 
are very rare and are found now only 
in two colors, Blacks and Mottled. 
The former being a greenish black 
throughout, the latter mottled Black 
and White. Years ago there was a 
White Java, but they are no longer 
recognized by the Standard. 

THE DOMINIQUES were at one 
time a very popular breed, but have 
be^en superseded by the Plymoutn 



Rocks which resemble them in color 
and which are of larger size. 

THE RHODE ISLAND REDS are 
one of the newer admissions to the 
Standard, although they have been 
bred in Rhode Island for a number of 
years. They have a rich, deep-red 
plumage with neck hackle tipped with 
black, and black in wing flights and 
tail. The flesh is finer grained than 
the Plymouth Rocks and of richer 
flavor, showing the Game character- 
istics. They lay a good sized brown- 
shelled egg, and are splendid sitters 
and mothers. Their hardiness, quick- 
ness of growth, the texture of their 
meat, their egg production and their 
brilliant rad plumage have brought 
this variety rapidly to the front and 
by many are claimed to be the best 
utility fowl we have. The Standard 
weights are — Cock, 81^ lbs.; cockerel, 
71/2 lbs. hen, 61/2 lbs.; pullet, 5 lbs. 
There are two varieties, single comb 
and rose comb. 

The Standard recognies another 
variety known as Buckeyes, which are 
very similar to the Rhode Island Reds. 

The above classification has in- 
cluded all the Standard varieties of 
poultry except th-e Orpingtons, Dork- 
ings, Games and Bantams. 




Single Comb Rhode Island Reds 




Rose Comb Rhode Island Reds. 



20 




Buff Orpingtons 



THE ORPINGTONS, although orig- 
inated in England, would come under 
our description of the American class. 
They are a cross-bred fowl, and their 
purity consists in their being bred for 
several years without an out-cross 
which fact is true also of all the Amer- 
ican classes. 

THE DORKING is the English- 
man's table-fowl, and has been bred 
as such for many years. If they had 
been bred and encouraged in egg- 
production, instead of putting on flesh 
and fat, they would be easily classified 
with the European varieties, as they 
have the general appearance of the 
Leghorn. Perhaps we can do no bet- 
ter than to say that they are an Eur- 
opean variety developed for table pur- 
poses. 

There are three kinds of Dorkings, 
White Dorkings with white plumage, 
rose-combed and red ear-lobes. Their 
standard weights are — Cocks, IVz 
lbs.; cockerel, 6% lbs.; hen, 6 lbs.; 
pullet, 5 lbs. 



Silver Grey Dorkings are some- 
what similar in color to the Dark 
Brahma. The male has silver colored 
hankie, wing, bays and bows and sad- 
dle feathers; the breast, fluff and 
tail are greenish black. The female 
has a silver hackle striped with black, 
the general surface color of back, 
wings and fluff is gray or silver stip- 
pled with black, the breast is salmon 
colored and the tail is black ticked 
with grey. The standard weights are: 
Cock, 8 lbs.; Cockerel, 7 lbs.; hen, 
&V2 lbs.; and Pullet, 51/2 lbs. 

Colored Dorkings. — The Colored 
Dorking male is similar in color to the 
Silver Gray male, but the feathers on 
breast and tail are splashed with buff 
or white. The female instead of being 
gray is a brownish black shade, strip- 
ed with yellow, caused by the light 
shaft color of each feather. Colored 
Dorkings are the heaviest of all dork- 
ings. Cock weighs 9 lbs.; cockerel, 
8 lbs; hen, 7 lbs.; pullet, 6 lbs. 




White Orpingtons. 




Red Pyle Games 

22 



GAMES. 

This leaves us with only the Games 
to account for, and it is not surpris- 
ing that they are in a class by them- 
selves, as they are the connecting link 
between the wild fowl of the jungle 
and all our domestics kinds of poul- 
try. In fact, they are the only pure- 
bred fowls we have; all others have, 
within the memory of man, been 
crossed with some other variety 
of fowl for some specific purpose. 
Games are as delicate as young tur- 
keys until about ten weeks old and 
then they are as hardy as any kind of 
fowl. Their meat also resembles tur- 
key meat in flavor and texture. 



The PIT GAMES are used for 
cock-fighting purposes which is unlaw- 
ful in certain states. They are simi- 
lar in plumage to the Exhibition and 
are also found in many other colors, 
which have been obtained by crossing. 

THE MALAY is similar to the 
Black Red, only more coarse and 
stouter built. 

THE INDIAN GAME is a hardy 
fowl raised especially for table pur- 
poses. They are not generally liked 
because they are such poor layers. 
They are found in two colors — the 
Cornish and the White. The former 
are black with red stripes in the 
feathers and the latter are pure white. 




Japanese Bantams 



Game Bantams. 



Sebright Bantams, 



But it is not essential to dwell here 
upon this interesting subject. It is 
suflBcient to say that the Game is a 
fancier's fowl and, while its great ser- 
vice has been to put color on many 
various breeds and texture and flavor 
in the meat, it has not gained favor 
because the "Standard" requires a 
fowl which is artificial and therefore 
unprofitable to produce for commer- 
cial purposes. They are found in five 
families: The Exhibition, the Pit, the 
Malay, the Cornish, Indian, and the 
Black Sumatra. 

THE EXHIBITION GAME is a tall, 
stilty, crane-like appearing bird, hav- 
ing a walk like a turkey. The stand- 
ard colors are Black Breasted Red, 
Brown Red, Golden Duckwing, Silver 
Duckwing, Red Pyle, White, Black, 
and Birchen. There is no standard 
weight required. 

The BLACK SUMATRA games are 
similar to Cornish Indian only pure 
black in plumage. 

As Bantams are, strictly speaking, 
a fancy fowl, I will not take space to 



say much about them here. They are 
the miniature of the large fowl and 
nearly every variety of large fowl 
have their representative among ban- 
tams. The bantam should weigh only 
one-fifth the weight of its large fore- 
runner. They have the advantage 
over the large fowls in that they can 
be kept in smaller quarters and do 
not require so much food. 

With so many varieties of fowls, 
fulfilling specific requirements it 
seems folly for poultry men to place 
any dependence upon mongred fowls. 
Poultry fanciers have spent years in 
developing a pure-bred fowl with cer- 
tain characteristics and it is a law of 
breeding that, only when you are 
breeding closely related animals, are 
you likely to g>et progeny in which the 
characteristics of the parents are in- 
tensified. Therefore, by cross-breed- 
ing the work of years is liable to be 
lost and the tendency of cross-bred 
fowls seem to be revert to the original 
ancestors which were small speci- 
mens, producing only a couple of 
dozen eggs per annum. 



23 



Chapter II. 
Characteristics of Fowls. 



Successful poultry keeping depends 
primarily upon an accurate knowledge 
of fowls. 

It is not enough to know that poul- 
try require a house to protect them 
from, the weather, feed and water. 
There is much more to be learned 
about our domesticated fowls which 
will be found useful in forcing them 
to yield a profit. 

All of our fowls belong to what the 
zoologist calls the Aves or bird fam- 
ily and poultry writers divide them 
into two groups: Land and Water 
Fowl. 

Of the Land fowls tlae chicken or 
Gallus family is by far the most com- 
mon and the following varieties have 
been named as belonging to this fam- 
ily: (1) Bankiva or Farrugineus; (2) 
Sonnerat; (3) Stanley; (4) Furcatus 
or Various; (5) Temminck; and (6) 
Aenfus. But, Dr. H. P. Clarke, who 
has made a close study of poultry 
and who has visited the native haunts 
of these wild varieties, tells me that 
there are some other wild kinds 
which should be added to this list. 
He names the Black Sumatra which 
are found in the Island of Sumatra in 
a wild state and which are quite sim- 
iliar to the Black Sumatra Games as 
we know them in a domesticated state 
and which I have described in a pre- 
ceeding chapter. He also adds the 
Laboeo or Labuyu found in the Island 
of Minanao in the Phillipines; and 
the Chichalque, found in the Isthmus 
of Tehuantepec. 

All of these birds in their native 
haunts are described as being hardy, 
great foragers living on bugs, seeds 
and fruits, fig'hting for supremacy and 
roosting in trees. 

In addition to these varieties of the 
gallus family there are the Meleagris 
family from which we get our turkeys 
and guinea fowls; the Phasianus or 
Pheasant family: the Pavo or Pea 
Fowl; and the Columba family from 
which we get our pigeons and the 
Rhea or Ostrich family. 

The Water fowls really all belong 
to the Anatidae or Duck family. 



which includes the sub-varieties 
Anserinae or Geese and the Cygninae 
or Swans. 

The history of our domestic fowls 
is so shrouded with mystery that it 
is difficult to trace the exact steps in 
the domestication of any variety; and 
even those who have introduced 
some of the very recent breeds of 
fowls have purposely or unwittingly 
kept the exact matings or method of 
production a secret. 

But there is abundant evidence 
that our domestic fowls belong to 
these wild kinds which I have enum- 
erated. They have been bred to- 
gether successfully and this is con- 
sidered by zoologists as the true test 
for determining a species of animals. 

While all birds of the genus gallus 
will breed with domesticated fowls 
there has been more difficulty in 
crossing some of the varieties than 
others and as the Bankiva cross the 
most easily it is assumed that they are 
the real progenitors of our extensive 
family of chickens. 

Now let us examine a fowl a little 
m.ore closely. 

A fowl is a two winged, two footed 
animal covered with feathers. The 
feet of the land fowl terminate in 
three long toes with claws and with 
only a little "web" between the toes; 
and one or two lateral toes. The wa- 
ter-fowl have only three forward toes 
and these are completely joined to 
each other by a "web" which makes 
of the foot a splendid paddle for pro- 
pulsion in the water. Land and water 
fowl differ also in the character of 
their plumage. The land fowl's feath- 
ers are more fluffy near the quill than 
the water fowl, while the latter is fur- 
nished with auxiliary small feathers 
or "down" which is almost impervious 
to water. 

Between land and water fowl there 
is another difference, namely: the 
beak or mouth. In the chicken this is 
pointed for picking, pulling and tear- 
ing the food. In the water fowl the 



beak is broad and long and is suitable 
for swallowing minnows and small wa- 
ter animals. 

Internally the anatomy of both 
kinds of fowls are much the same. 
The food first passes into a crop 
where it remains until thoroughly 
moistened with the water the fowl 
drinks and the secretions. The feed 
then passes to a gizzard where it is 
ground and prepared for digestion and 
assimilation in the intestines, from 
which the fibrous and mineral matter 
is voided. 

Fowls also have a respiratory or 
breathing system; a circulatory sys- 
tem, with a heart; a urinary system 
with a gall-bladder which secretes a 
urine of whitish color which is voided 
through the intestines; and a genera- 
tive system in which the embryo eggs 
or "yolks" form in grape-shaped clus- 
ters which, in the process of develop- 
ment, are dropped, from time to time, 
into the egg-canal where they are cov- 
ered with the "white," the inner fibrus 
shell and the outer mineral shell. 
This egg canal is about 21 inches long 
and these three coverings are se- 
creted consecutively around the 
"yolk" during its movement along this 
canal. 

Fowls also have a nervous system 
which starts from a brain in the skull 
but this is very small and their rea- 
soning powers are the smallest of 
any animal. In fact, a chicken has 
been known to live with the top of its 
head "chopped off." Such a bird was 
once on exhibition in our town. 

There is a greater difference than 
the average person would think in 
the requirements of even the various 
kinds of land fowl and it is only those 
who learn to distinguish these dif- 
ferences as well as to discriminate 
between the appearance of a fowl in 
health or disease who can really ex- 
pect to have the greatest success and 
obtain the greatest profits. 

As these things are important I will 
take a little space to mention some of 
the points of difference which, I hope, 
will be help to the student of poultry 
keeping to develop this faculty of 
close observation. 

Let me illustrate this point by ex- 
plaining some of the differences be- 
tween chickens and pigeons. 



In chickens the males are polygam- 
ous, that is, one male will mate with 
several females, while with pigeons 
the males are monygamous; or, in 
other words they mate in pairs and a 
pair once properly mated will usually 
remain true to each other during 
their lifetime or until one or the other 
might get sick, when the well bird 
might mate with another of the oppo- 
site sex which did not have a mate. 
Pig'eons and chickens also differ in 
their care of their young. A pair of 
pigeons will only lay two eggs, the 
male and female take turns in sitting 
on them to incubate them and when 
the young are hatched, nature has 
provided that the parent pigeons crop 
at hatching time will secrete a "milk" 
which they transfer to their young at 
"feeding" time. There is no such ar- 
rangement in the incubation of a 
chicken and the process of rearing is 
entirely different as I will explain in 
the chapter on caring for little 
chicks. 

In poultry, as compared with four- 
footed animals, there are some strik- 
ing differences. Their bones are 
much thinner and smaller in propor- 
tion to the amount of flesh, which is 
made possible by the more rounding 
shape of the body. The lungs are 
placed directly under the back bone 
and in the wild birds the air which is 
breathed is not confined to the lungs, 
but passes throug*h and penetrates a 
number of membraneous cells and in 
some cases even extending to the 
pinions, bones of the thighs and other 
parts of the body. From this it will 
be seen that the amount of air taken 
into the breathing system of a bird 
varies considerably and seems to ac- 
commodate itself to the surrounding 
circumstances. 

Under domestication, of course, 
this characteristic is greatly modi- 
fied; but, it seems to me that many 
of our poultry authorities in the past 
have failed to consider this great lung 
capacity of a bird. In fact it is only 
recently that open air houses have 
been found to be a great improve- 
ment over the former closely built 
house, and, no doubt, this breathing 
capacity of a fowl is the specific rea- 
son for this improvement — it allows 
a greater development of this lung 
function. 

Another great difference between 
birds and mammals is the formation 
of the eye. A i-ird or fowl's eye is 



25 



furnished with two membranes — an 
external and an internal — in addition 
to the usual membranes found in the 
eyes of niamals. These extra mem- 
branes affords the fowl great focus- 
sing power so that a bird can see far- 
ther and see also more minute par- 
ticles than any other animal. This 
accounts for two things which every 
poultry keeper has often observed but 
which may have been more or less 
of a mystery. First the peculiar ac- 
tion of a fowl when it sees a large 
bird flying at a great distance over 
head. There is no doubt that this is 
caused by the bird's eye being fo- 
cussed upon the ground looking for 
minute particles sees the bird over- 
head many times larger than it really 
is and thus is filled with fear at the 
unusual sight. Secondly, this ^reat 
magnifying power enables the fowl 
to see the minute particles of food 
many of which are invisible to the 
naked eye. 

While a bird's breathing power, 
sense of atmospheric conditions and 
eyesight are greater than man's its 
reasoning power is much less. In 
fact a chicken is perhaps the most 
senseless animal which we have. 
When allowed to roam naturally they 
will return to their home at night 
with considerable regularity, and pre- 
cision; but try to chase them home or 
"flusterate" them in any way and you 
have a task on your hands — they do 
not seem to have sense enough to go 
through a hole in the fence. Thus 
they are greatly dependent upon the 
care of their keeper. 

Under domestication there has been 
change in these various kinds of 
fowls. This change, however, has 
been greater among the varieties of 
chickens than any of the other. They 
have responded more readily to 
man's care and manipulation. In 
fact all of the other kinds of fowls are 
today almost identical with their wild 
progenitors, excepting, perhaps, pig- 
eons, which have been modified large- 
ly as to shape and color. But, when 
pigeons are allowed to breed indis- 
criminately they soon revert to the 
original type — the Blue Rock Dove. 

With chickens man's efforts have 
been to increase size and egg pro- 
duction and the progress along these 
two lines has been really marvelous, 
especially when their will progenitors 
only produce a couple of dozen eggs 
per year and weighed only about four 



and one-half pounds. Whereas there 
are many flocks in this country to- 
day which have an average egg pro- 
duction of over fifteen dozen per an- 
num and specimens which weigh 11 
and 12 pounds each, as described in a 
previous chapter. 

Just what factor has played the 
most important part in this develop- 
ment has not been determined and is 
now the object of the poultry investi- 
gators most careful study. 

Probably the greatest factor has 
been selection. By selecting the best 
birds, the largest and best layers, 
and using them in the (breeding pens 
we have gradually developed our 
fowls to a high degree of productive 
power. Naturalists tell us that prog- 
ress is made in two ways: by inheri- 
tance and care in the development of 
the offspring. Or, in other words, a 
character which has developed in an 
animal, even though it was not appa- 
rent in its parent, is likely to be 
transmitted to its offspring. It is for 
this reason that close attention and 
great care should be given to the sub- 
ject of care and feeding of fowls, for 
fowls which have been developed by 
careful attention will quickly degener- 
ate when favorable attention is with- 
drawn. 

Our knowledge of these things 
leads to the formulation of some gen- 
eral rules which should be studied 
and observed. 

1. The land fowl should be made 
to "scratch" or "pick" or "tear' 'its 
feed. 

2. It should be kept dry. 

3. Its feed must consist of animal, 
vegetable and mineral matter with 
sufficient water to moisten it. 

4. Its reasoning powers being small 
man must assist by placing proper 
feeds before it. 

The water-fowl should have access 
to running water. I know this is an 
opposition opinion to what a famous 
duck raiser says, but water fowls for 
breeding purposes will thrive best 
when they have free access to run- 
ning water. 

All varieties of poultry will incu- 
bate their own eggs; although some 
of the European varieties do not "sit" 
until they are 3 or 4 years old. 

Chicken eggs hatch in 21 days, 
Turkeys and Ducks in 28 days, and 
geese in about 30 days. 



4 



Chapter III. Poultry House. 



The next thing to consider is the 
poultry house. Before deciding upon 
the style of house it is essential to 
decide upon the object or purpose of 
keeping poultry; whether for eggs, 
broilers, roasters o^- fancy. 

In settling this question the loca- 
tion of the farm in reference to a 
good market is important. A farm 
near Boston or New York will do well 
producing broilers and eggs; while 
west of Chicago most of the farmers 
depend upon eggs and shipping adult 
birds. 

It is difficult to decide for another 
which is the most profitable end of 
this business, and each must study his 
local market to determine what poul- 
try product will sell best, and arrange 
his plant accordingly. 

Regardless of the plan decided up- 
on a laying-house will be necessary, 
and I will undertake to give some ex- 
amples of such houses which experi- 
ence has found to be satisfactory and 
profitable. 

There are two kinds used for this 
purpose, (1), the long, continuous 
house divided into a number of apart- 
ments or pens; and (2), the detached 
house or colony system as it is called. 
Both have their champions and ad- 
vantages. The long, continuous house 
is the handiest and saves steps, espe- 
cially in winter time; but if disease 
once gets started in such a house 
nearly every fowl throughout the 
house will catch it. The continuous 
house requires less lumber, and there- 
fore costs less, which no doubt is an 
important reason for its existence. 

The nature of the fowl and practice 
has shown that chickens cannot thrive 
in damp or draughty quarters. So in 
building we should plan to make a dry 
and draftless house. To make a dry 
house requires a good roof, and good 
drainage below. 

It is better to have a cold, dry 
house than a warm, damp house. The 
warmer the air the more moisture it 



will hold. When this moist air comea 
in contact with a cold surface, con- 
densation takes place which is often 
converted into hoar frost. The rem- 
edy, therefore, is to remove the mois- 
ture, as far as possible, by first cut- 
ting off the water from below which 
comes up from the soil. The water- 
table is the same under the hen-house 
as it is out-doors, hence the necessity 
of having the floor-level inside the 
house higher than surrounding 
ground-level, as shown in illustration, 



««:5? 




_?AND 05 S>>NOj_ L 



Fig I. Foundation Plan. 

Fig. 1. Epecially is this necessary if 
the floor is of dirt. In filling in, if 
small stones or gravel are used for the 
bottom layer and a covering of clay 
for a floor, it will be much drier than 
if earth alone is used. 

Personally, I favor a board floor, as 
it permits of thorough cleansing and 
scrubbing with a disinfectant which is 
necessary should disease get a start. A 
board floor can be made comfortable 
and satisfactory if the foundation is 
built tightly of brick to extend a foot 
or more above the ground surface. 
The foundation below the natural 
ground surface can be constructed 
cheaply of concrete, using the stones 
from the field or roadside. Common 
scantling will do for sleepers, and by 
making a trap-door in the center and 
letting a terrier dog down below for 
an hour or so occasionally rats will 
be kept away, if they' ever do get in 

A cement fioor has been recom- 
mended, but it is usually cold, and in 



27 



wet weather absorbs moisture and re- 
mains damp. If used, it will have to 
be kept covered with plenty of straw 
or similar scratching material. 

There is an advantage in having 
the poultry house face the south be- 
cause our severest storms come from 
the north and a south window receives 
more sunlight. The location of the 
windows can be determined by study- 
ing Fig. 2 which shows the position of 
the sun as determined by Cornell Uni- 
v>Brsity. The size of the windows 
should be carefully considered. Too 
much glass makes a house too cold at 
night and too warm during the day 
because glass is a good conductor of 



"place: thc 

\A/INOOWS HIGH 




Fig 2. Showing the Elevation of the 
Sun at different Seasons. 

temperature. The rule is about 1 
square foot of glass to 16 square feet 
of floor space. 

To overcome dampness in a house 
an experiment was tried as follows: 
The windows of three different rooms 
in a long poultry house were arranged 
as shown in Fig. 3. In No. 1 the win- 
dows were left closed; in No. 2, the 
top sash was dropped the length of 
one light and a curtain set in the place 
and in No. 3 the sash was dropped 
from the top and raised from the bot- 
tom, curtains being placed over the 
openings. During a winter room No. 
3 was practically dry whereas in No. 
1 there was much moisture and it al- 
ways seemed "chilly." No. 3 was also 
found to be about 6 degrees warmer 
than No. 1. 

A splendid form of poultry house 
is shown in Fig. 4 where there is a 
comfortable tight room for the cold- 
est weather and an open front scratch- 
ing sheds for bright days and warm 
weather. 

Another plan is illustrated in de- 



tail in Figs. 5 and 6, which makes a 
splendid house for winter layers. This 
house has a feed room 12x20 in the 
middle, and on either side of that a 
wing 60 feet long divided into five 
pens 12 feet wide. The divisions are 
solid as far as they go — from the back 
to within three feet of the front. This 
space between the divisions and the 
front is left open, and the birds can 
run freely from one pen to another. 
In each house 360 to 400 birds are 
kept. This house is 20 feet deep, but 
I think 16 feet sufficient and, by put- 
ting the roosts as far from the front as 
possible, it will be noticed in the illus- 
tration, that this plan gives a large 





■->l,^.\^ 



















Mo I 



NoZ 



Fig 3. Showing Different Arrange- 
ments for Windows. 

area in which there is no draught 
whatever. A drop curtain in front of 
the roosts can be used, but has not 
been found necessary in New: York 
state climate. 

Each 12-foot pen has three full win- 
dows with twelve 8x10 lights. The 
top sash is hinged and is swung out 
except on windy days. 

Along the bottom there is a space 
below tne two outside windows cov- 
ered with shutters on the outside, and 
wire screens on the inside, one of 
which is also covered with unbleached 
muslin. The wire screens keep the 
birds in the house when the runW|ay 
is closed. The runway to the yards is 
placed below the middle window, and 
this is kept closed in bad weather. On 
very windy days the shutters are kept 
closed, with the exception of the 
spaces covered with th-e unbleached 
muslin. During all other days both 
shutters are kept open, but are closed 
at night during cold weather.' ' 

Here is a "secret" or plan which 
will make money for some. We have 






^ 




==1 


^.=====^ 


f~~ 


1 




1 




















. 





^F^t 



Feed Trouqh, 







Partition between Pens Port itio" bet w?en Shtdi Tront of Scrotchmg Shed Bocl^of Rooiting Room. 



Fig 4. Showing Successful, Continuous Curtain Front Scratching 
Shed Poultry House. 



been told of a farmer in England who 
had a pasture of 20 acres back of his 
barn, into which he turned his work- 
horses summer nights. In this pas- 
ture h-e put five colony houses with 50 
hens in each. He fed them until they 
became accustomed to their quarters, 
after which they ^vere not fed any- 
thing and only fresh water was given 
them. They laid an abundance of 
eggs, and the horses did not seem to 
mind them; in fact, after this plan 
was carried on for several years the 
horses seemed to go into the vicinity 
of the houses to eat grass, and more 
horses could be pastured than before 
this plan was adopted. 

The colony house takes many 
forms to suit every fancy and is built 
of a great variety of materials, from 
rough boards, piano-boxes, paper, can- 
vas covered, etc. 

In one of the poultry papers for 
March, 1907, Mr. Tolman described a 
house used by him, which has since 
been called the Tolman "fresh air 
house". We give a view of the house 
as described and a plan of the floor. 

The usual dimipfensions are 8x14 
feet, with eaves 4 feet in front, 5 feet 



in back, and 7 feet at highest point 
over the door. The front being low 
keeps out sunlight, but this is over- 
come by a door in the east and win- 
dows in the west which allows the 
early morning and afternoon sun to 
enter the building. The front of the 
house is enclosed with two-inch wire- 
mesh only. The roof and sides ai>e 
of one-inch board, nailed to 2x4 inch 
studdings and rafters, then covered 
with sheathing paper and prepared 
roofing. In summer doors and win- 
dows are removed and frames covered 
with one-inch wire-netting used in 
their stead. The wire door could 
be attached on the outside like a 
screen door. The working of this 
house has been described as follows: 
"The front of the fresh-air house 
is never closed. The roosts in the 
rear of the building being above the 
level of the bottom of the front plate 
(or eaves) insures the fowls against 
exposure to any winds which may 
blow in at the open front. They are 
protected at all times from drafts by 
the tight back sides and roof. The 
peak of the roof coming in just in 
front of the roosts insures a banking 




Fig 5. Side View of a Successful Poultry House. 




Fig 6. Floor and Front Plans of 
House Shown. 



up of the warm air, (the warmth pro- 
duced by the fowls themselves) in 
such a manner that the part of the 
house occupied by the fowls is the 
warmest place in the building, and 
this on the coldest nights in winter. 
It should be remembered that this 
warm air, while it retains the heat, 
also has an opportunity to lose the 



Fig 8. Plan of Talman House. 

impurities exhaled by the fowls, as 
it is a well known fact that while heat 
rises impure air does not rise but 
sinks to the bottom; the foul air that 
is dangerous to breathe will always 
be found nearest the door in a tight 
building. In a fresh-air house the 




Fig. 9. 



End Plan of a Canadian 
Poultry House. 



open front prevents any accumulation 
of foul air near the floor. One has 
only to go into a house of this type 
to have this fact practically demon- 
strated to him. He will find the house 
comfortable and warm, warmer than 
a shed-roofed type of building at the 
roost level." 

The essential interior furnishings 
of a hen house is a roosting place, a 
nest box, a feed hopper, a water foun- 
tain and a dust bath. The best forms 
for these articles will be further de- 
scribed and better understood under 
th-e chapters on Care and Feeding. 




Fig 10. Floor Plan of Successful Canadian Poultry House. See Fig 9. 



\ 



Chapter IV. Feeds. 



To understand animal feeding 
properly we must stop and study the 
various Feeds. This may be dry read- 
ing but it will pay and no one will ever 
get the best results from poultry un- 
til he or she thoroughly understands 
this part of the subject. 

In Feeds there are three principal 
nutritive elements: Protein, composed 
of the protids, carbohydrates, fats, ash 
and fiber. 

(1) Protein is the albuminous or 
nitrogenous matter; in grains it is 
known as gluten, in meat and blood 
it is known as fibrin, and in milk ca- 
sein. It is nourishing food and sup- 
plies material for muscle, blood, bone 
and eggs. 

(2) Carbohydrates are the sugars 
and gums in which carbon and hydro- 
gen are the principal elements. They 
form the bulk of nearly all foods, and 
as digestion is a slow process of burn- 
ing it is obvious that carbon or coal 
matter and hydrogen-gas are the prin- 
cipal sources of heat and energy. 

(3) Fats or oils are found in prac- 
tically all foods, and in digestion work 
with the carbonhydrates, in furnish- 
ing heat and energy. As fat is used 
directly in digestion its value in food 
is two and one-fourth times as great 
as the same percentage of carbo- 
hydrates. 

In addition to the above, there are 
some minor food elements, as follows: 

(4) All feeds contain some lime 
and other mineral matters in small 
quantities called the ash, and in poul- 
try feeding ash is useful to furnish 
material for egg-shells and feathers. 

(5) Fiber which is found is husks 
and waste matter. It has no particu- 
lar nourishing value, but is essential 
in giving the food a proper bulk, pre- 
venting it from packing so tightly that 
the digestive juices cannot reach it. 
The Department of Agriculture at 
Washington, D. C, publishes a bulletin 
Feeding Farm Animals, which gives a 
table of analysis feeding stuffs. 

From these tables it will be seen 



that the foods have what is called a 
heat or potential energy. In the ta- 
ble the nutritive value of field corn 
is given as 1:7.9 that is one part of 
protein to seven and nine-tenth of 
carbohydrates and fat; and has a po- 
tential value of one hundred and six. 

It has been calculated that when 
food has one part of protein to about 
five of carbohydrates and fat (or 1:5 
as it is usually written) it is called a 
balance or a balanced ration. 

Wheat is an ideal grain for poultry 
and is the bread and butter of the 
poultry household. It will be seen 
from the table that its nutritive value 
is 1:6.3 and this is a good average ra- 
tion for laying hens. 

Corn has a food ration of 1:7.9, 
which is considerably higher in carbo- 
hydrates, or heat and energy produc- 
ing substances. It has several advan- 
tages; it is sometimes cheaper, and 
if the fowls are kept active by having 
to hunt in straw or litter for finely 
cracked corn they seem to thrive and 
do well on it. It is a splendid food on 
cold nights, and no matter how much 
a fowl has eaten it will run after more 
corn. Corn, then, is a "candy" for 
poultry. Corn-meal is useful in mash, 
and if hay or green food is unobtain- 
able, bulk may be added to the mash 
by grinding some of the cobs. 

Wheat-bran is used considerably in 
all mashes of ground grain. In the 
patent process of milling, it varies 
considerably, some containing a very 
small percentage of flour. Bran is use- 
ful in fowl constipation, as it acts as 
an irritant to the bowels. Middlings 
and shorts are useful, although their 
quality varies as does bran. They 
make the mash sticky, or doughy, so 
should not be used in large quantities. 

Oats have a feed ration of 1:6.1 
which is about the same as wheat, 
which makes them a splendid sum- 
mer feed and are found commercialy 
as hulled oats, ground oats and oat- 
meal. The U. S. tables state that oats 
contain about twice the percentage of 



32 



ash as corn or wheat. This ash makes 
this grain, of great valu-e to use as a 
food for growing stoclv, as the ash 
tends to strengthen the bones, and 
this gives a good frame work for the 
fowls. Oats also may be "sprouted" 
as explained in the chapter on feeding. 

Barley has a nutritive ratio about 
the same as wheat, but has more ash 
or bone-forming substances. Chickens 
do not like it, which is, no doubt, due 
to the hulls. They seem to enjoy 
hulled barley 

Rye, although about th-e same com- 
position as wheat, is not generally fed 
to poultry in America. It is used con- 
siderably in England. Rye seems to 
physic some fowls, which is perhaps 
the reason some feeders do not like 
it. But rye-bran or rye-flour would be 
a valuable addition to the mash. 

Buckwheat is fed considerably 
where it can be purchased cheaply. It 
has a food-value about the same as 
corn, but its shape makes it difficult 
for poultry to pick it up, hence it is 
more readily eaten if fed on straw or 
soft earth. 

Millet seed is rich in flesh-form- 
ing materials, or protein, but also has 
a large amount of fiber which causes 
troubl-e in little chicks, if fed exclu- 
sively. It is a good grain to mix in 
mashes. 

Kaffir corn has about the same 
food value as field corn, but is valu- 
able because it requires the fowl to 
pick oftener to get the same quantity 
of grain. 

Hemp seed is especially rich in 
carbohydrates, and is useful in toning 
up birds for exhibition, as it puts a 
fine gloss on the feathers. 

Canary seed is used considerably 
by Bantam breeders as it tends to 
keep the birds small. 

Linseed meal and cotton-seed meal 
are very rich in oil, and where fed in 
the mash act as a lubricant in the di- 
gestive system and also improve the 
plumage. 

Sunflower seed is especially rich in 
oil, and is said to be a good egg-stim- 
ulant, and puts a good, healthy gloss 
on feathers. 

Meat foods are necessary and use- 
ful, especially to stimulate egg pro- 



duction, and consist of the following: 

Green bone, ground or cut by ma- 
chinery. The great difficulty with this 
food is that it is so rich that many 
over-feed with it. It should be mixed 
with corn-cobs or clover hay, or other 
bulky foods which will distend the 
crop and allow proper digestion. 

Raw, lean beef also is too concen- 
trated, and is usually too expensive, 
although it is a great egg-stimulant. 

Fish scraps and fish intestines are 
fed to poultry on the sea coasts. While 
they have high nutritious value, they 
impart a fishy odor to the eggs. 

Beef scraps or dried blood manu- 
factured by our packing houses are 
perhaps the best and most economical 
source of protein. They can be obtain- 
ed quite generally ,and are in such a 
shape as to be readily mixed in the 
mash. 

Those who are fortunate enough to 
live near a city where they can obtain 
stale bread from hotels or restaurants 
can thus secure a very good food for 
poultry. A mixed lot will give great 
variety, and some poultrymen use no 
other mash food. Soaked in warm 
water and thickened with corn-meal 
or bran, with a little beef scraps add- 
ed, makes it a very good mash. 

Cracker crumbs are also very good, 
and the soda in them is often useful to 
correct intestinal troubles. 

Eggs are a good, but rather rich 
and concentrated food. 

Vegetables are valuable in feeding 
fowls, especially in winter when they 
supply the green grass elements, and 
nearly all are relished by fowls. 

Potatoes are rich in carbonaceous 
matter, and are best when boiled. 

Onions have a tonic effect, and 
when fed raw tend to give their odor 
to the fiesh and eggs, therefore they 
should be boiled. When boiled, as 
much as five pounds to one hundred 
hens may be fed daily without caus- 
ing any trouble. 

Cabbage makes a splendid winter 
green food and is useful to furnish ex- 
ercise by making it necessary for the 
fowls to pick it. 

Beets, mangels, turnips and car- 
rots are likewise best fed raw and 



placed wh«re the fowls can pick at 
them. 

GRASS AND HAY — It is surprising 
how much grass a fowl will eat in 
summer, and when fowls are allowed 
to run on the grass in summer the 
eggs seem to come in greater num- 
bers. Just why this is so has never 
been fully determined, but the green 
pigment in grass also seems to inten- 
sify the color in tbe yolk of the eggs, 
making it richer looking. 

Of hay, the clover is the best. Al- 
falfa, which is of the same family as 
the red clover, has many friends. I 
have noticed, however, that alfalfa is 
not relished by fowls like red clover, 
and believe this is due to the bitter 
taste which it has. Both alfalfa and 
red clover are rich in protein, and 
make splendid foods. When ground 
to a meal they can be mixed with the 
mash. Some makers of alfalfa meal 
are mixing molasses with it, and this, 
no doubt, overcomes the bitter taste. 
Molasses of itself has splendid food 
and tonic qualities. 

Milk in all forms — sweet, sour, but- 
termilk, curds or whey — is good for 
fowls. It can be given to drink or 
used to moisten the mash. When milk 
is used for this purpose it will not be 
necessary to use as much grain as 
when water is used. 

Few fully appreciate the real 
value of fresh skimmed milk, espe- 
cially that obtainable from a separa- 
tor before it loses its animal heat. It 
has great bone and flesh growing prop- 
erties; in fact ,the Percheron horse 
owes much of its size and fine qual- 
ities to the sweet skim-milk fed to 
the colts. 

All poultry supply houses now 
carry grit for poultry. In the Cen- 
tral Western States where the sur- 
face soil is a black loam, grit is indis- 
pensable and must be furnished to 
supply the gizzard with grinding ma- 
terial and also furnish the silica to 



produce feathers. Commercial grit 
contains silica, magnesia, sulphur and 
lime. 

Oyster Shell — Some use this in 
place of grit, but as it is composed 
mostly of lime, grit has some advan- 
tages over it. 

Dry bone is useful for the phos- 
phates it contains, but is not used as 
much now as formerly, due largely to 
the increased use of green bone. 

Charcoal is almost pure carbon, 
and is useful as an aid to digestion 
and as a blood purifier. 

We have spoken of certain feeds as 
tonics and stimulants and, of course, 
it is understood that these are only 
mild, and in no way injurious. On 
the market, however, there are for 
sale condimental foods known as con- 
dition powders, etc. In a commercial 
poultry plant these all have a place. 
Our own foods without salt or pepper 
would taste flat, and would soon nau- 
seate us; in fact, we could not live 
without salt, and it is required by all 
animals in greater or less quantities. 
Of course, we do not recommend con- 
dition powders to fowls which are do- 
ing well without them. But during 
changeable weather, in spring, fall and 
winter,.and during the molting season, 
fowls will do better if fed a good con- 
dition powder in the mash food. 

It is surprising how much grass a 
fowl will eat in summer, and when 
fowls are allowed to run on the grass 
in summer the eggs seem to come in 
greater numbers. Just why this is so 
has never been fully determined, but 
the green pigment in grass also seems 
to intensify the color in the yolk of 
the eggs, making it richer looking. 

These various feeding stuffs are 
given here for reference. In practice 
it is unnecessary to use all of them 
although I am a strong believer in the 
theory that variety has many advant- 
ages for fowls as well as the human 
family. 



Chapter V. Feeding Secrets. 



As various kinds of poultry at dif- 
ferent seasons require varying foods, 
it will be seen that to feed success- 
fully a flock of chickens is no child's 
play, but requires the greatest care, 
observation and good judgment. 

The rules for feeding are almost as 
numerous as the poultry feeders — 
some thinking only of the fowls, and 
others thinking only of their own con- 
venience. 

It Is apparent from what I have 
said that fowls having extensive 
range require a different course of 
feeding than those in limited quar- 
ters. The form*er will do well with 
plenty of drinking water and very lit- 
tle grain, while the latter require 
green stuff as well as mash, -w-ater, 
grit and grains. 

Successful feeders are like artists 
— the best are born, not made. Suc- 
cessful feeding is an art which, while 
based on the science of foods, re- 
quires long practice before one mas- 
ters all the details, so that the eye 
knows whether the food is too rich 
or is given in too great quantities. 

Of course, when a careful egg rec- 
ord is kept, and when the fowls are 
weighed occasionally, these matters 
can be determined accurately. But 
this involves considerable labor, and 
in these days the labor costs. 

There are, however, four things to 
observe: 

The Fowl, 

The Feed or Feed-Box, 
The Dropping Board, 
The Egg Yield. 

The healthy fowl has an appear- 
ance of its own which everyone should 
know, or get some poultryman to point 
out. It is active, alert, "skeery," runs 
at the appearance of strangers, etc., 
the comb is red and the appetite rav- 
enous. The fowl that hustles the 
hardest and goes to roost last with a 
full crop is the producer. There are 
very few exceptions to this rule. 



THE FEED OR FEED-BOX.— The 

successful poultryman does not throw 
down so many measures of feed and 
pass on. He pauses a moment or two 
and notices the eagerness with which 
the fowls partake of their food and 
later goes through the pens again to 
see whether all of it has been eaten 
up. 

Watch the dropping board, it is the 
secret of proper care and will reveal 
the physical condition of the fowl. 
Normally the droppings should be 
firm, grayish black mass, terminating 
on top with a light grayish substance 
which is the secretion of the gall- 
bladder. If the droppings are soft and 
of a yellowish or brownish color, it 
indicates too much carbohydrates or 
lack of meat. Too much meat will 
produce droppings that are watery, 
with dark red splashes of mucus. A 
greenish, watery diarrhea usually in- 
dicates unsanitary conditions in the 
surroundings, the feed, or the water. 

The successful poultry raiser, also 
studies carefully any fowl that is 
killed for the table. By examining 
the crop and gizzard of such fowls 
much can be learned concerning the 
general condition of the flock. The 
quantity of fat around the intestines 
will show whether there is too much 
fat forming matter in the feed. In 
considering this it must be remem- 
bered that some individual specimens 
in a flock will have more of a fat form- 
ing tendancy than others and this 
tendancy is always strongest in the 
fall months. 

Recent investigations show that 
many hens have diseased egg produc- 
ing organs and cannot lay. Some have 
placed this average as high as 15 per- 
cent. It is known also that pulleta 
that suffer from roup or other serious 
poultry disease are slow in recovering 
the egg producing faculty. To get the 
best results you must have pullets 
that have been properly raised and 



that are strong, healthy, vigorous 
"rustlers." 

Of late years much has been writ- 
ten about hopper feeding. The styles 
of hoppers are too numerous to men- 
tion. There is no question but that 
they are useful for feeding little 
chicks especially in a brooder as they 
are likely to get hungry at a time 
when no attendant is near. For adult 
fowls they save labor, but as the egg 
production depends upon activity I 
prefer to make the fowls get practical- 
ly all their food by scratching for it 



in the natural method. On the other 
hand, for fattening or growing fowls 
I approve of hopper feeding. 

Cooked foods have some advant- 
ages. FoAvls do well on vegetables 
and table scraps. They like potatoes, 
turnips and carrots but cannot break 
them very well, hence such vegetables 
should b^^ cooked and fed in the mash. 
1 do not like to feed hot foods in cold 
weather, it makes fowls "mope" 
around which is opposed to the great- 
est egg production. 




Silver Pencilled Wyandottes. 



Chapter YI. Feeding for Eggs in Winter 



Fresh eggs in winter are a delicacy 
and as I write the newspapers an- 
nounce that such eggs are bringing 
considerably more than "storage" eggs. 
American hens have never produced 
enough eggs to supply the demand 
and every year importations are made 
from Canada. It is quite evident that 
if all eggs could be stamped to indi- 
cate their freshness the demand would 
be greatly increased. 

The secret for getting winter eggs 
is proper stock, feed them the proper 
elements and make them "scratch." 

The proper stock will consist of 
April hatched pullets and yearling 
hens, in good health. There is a dif- 
ference of opinion as to the variety 
but to me it is not so much variety 
as it is proper care. 

In winter I prefer giving a moist 
mash feed for first meal as it is 
ground and being moist passes quickly 
into the gizzard. Do not feed too 
much. Let the hens be hungry enough 
to scratch for additional grains. The 
mash feed formulas differ with differ- 
ent localities and accessabl-e grains. 
The following are two good ones: 

Good wheat 200 lbs.; cornmeal 100 
lbs; middlings ,100 lbs; gluten meal. 
100 lbs; linseed meal, 100 lbs; beef 
scraps, 100 lbs; to which may be add- 
ed 5 lbs ground charcoal and 5 pei 
cent, sand or grit. 

Another formula is 2 parts corn- 
meal, 2 parts wheat middlings, 2 parts 
beef scraps, 1 part wheat bran, 1 part 
alfalfa meal. Remember its the happy 
hustling hen that "scratches" that 
lays the egg. 

About noon I feed the grains in the 
litter. I like to get as great a variety 
as possible as I think variety causes 
the hens to do more hunting. The 
first time over they will not get all 
and will keep at it. I prefer cracked 
to whole corn because it makes the 
hen pick oftener to get sufficient food. 
In extremely cold weather I like to 



throw them some whole corn just be- 
fore roosting time; but you must re- 
member whole corn is a strong fat 
producer and too much will produce 
fat and not egg. Further, quick, light, 
active hens can partake of more corn 
without serious disturbance of egg 
production than the large sluggish 
fowls. 

Of course, fresh water, grit, oyster 
shell and a dust bath should be ac- 
cessible at all times and be sure there 
is no vermin in the pen. Chicken lice 
is a great enemy to egg production. 

The v/ater should not be hot nor 
should it be allowed to freeze. 

The dust bath is best when made 
from road-dust and wood ashes, with 
a little air-slacked lime and flour of 
sulphur. 

Green food must be supplied in 
winter if the best results are to be ob- 
tained. For this purpose a cabbage 
suspended from the ceiling by 3 
string, just high enough so the chick- 
ens can reach it will do wonders, a 
turnip or mangel cut in two length- 
wise and nailed to the side of the 
house will furnish good "green" food 
also. 

Sometimes I use sprouted "oats." 
They are prepared by placing some 
oats in a box having sides about 6 
inches high and by moistening the 
oats and keeping them in a tempera- 
ture of 70 degrees F., they will sprout. 
In about 7 days they will be fully 
twice the size and much more relished 
by the chickens than whole oats and 
much more beneficial. By having sev- 
en boxes a continuous daily supply can 
be kept up. 

The oats should be first soaked 
over night in luke warm water then 
spread in the boxes about two inches 
deep and moistened daily. They should 
be stirred daily until they start to 
sprout after which moisten only. In 
seven days the sprouts should be 
about six inches long making a matted 



S7 



mass which can be broken up and 
scattered in the pen or mixeci in the 
mash feed. Chickens will not hurt 
themselves eating loo much of this 
feed. 

For a small flock a six inch flower 
pot will do and seven of them are 



not out of place on a kitchen window. 
After emptying the growing pans 
they should be washed thoroughly 
with a disinfectant and dried or the 
growing oats will develop a "mould" 
which may prove injurious to the 
fowls. 



Chapter VII. Incubators. 



With so many firms advertising 
incubators it would seem unnecessary 
to add anything but there ar-e some 
differences in makes of incubators 
and perhaps a suggestion or two may 
not be out of place. 

The incubator is a great aid where 
fowls are to be raised in large num- 
bers. I would sooner care for one in- 
cubator than ten setting hens and 
then, the incubator is ready when you 
want it. It also enables you to have 
early hatched chicks or late hatched 
just as you prefer. It is a wonderful 
help on a farm as the machines can 
be started and chicks ready to go on 
grass before the regular summer 
farm work begins. 

Those who have never used an in- 
cubator cannot comprehend its ar- 
vantages, and those who have used 
one invariably tell me they would not 
be without it. Of course, we must 
recognize a diflierence in incubators 
as found on the market today, and 
they are not all perfect by any means. 
But the best machines will, if proper 
care is used and the directions fol- 
lowed, hatch nearly as large a per- 
centage of healthy chicks as the hen. 

Let us pause for a moment and 
study the egg. As found in the nest 
the egg is an oval sphere larger at 
one end than the other, and the out- 
side covering or shell is made up of 
prismatic particles, so arranged as to 
leave pores between them. Upon 
breaking the shell, we find a yolk sur- 
rounded with a white semi-liquid. But 
if an egg is incubated for a few days, 
and then hard-boiled and cut in halves 



lengthwise, much more will be re- 
vealed. 

The process of the development of 
the chick has been described as fol- 
lows: 

"A few hours will enlarge the cen- 
tral spot, w hich becomes oval with a 
furrow down the center and blood- 
veins appear around it. Then a dou- 
ble membrane called 'amnion' appears, 
which later entirely encloses the em- 
bryo along with what is called the 
'amniotin fluid.' 

"By the second or third day the 
tiny embryo enclosed in the amnion 
can be clearly seen. A magnifying 
glass Mill then reveal the eyes and 
pulsation of the heart. At or soon aft- 
er the third day another growth, call- 
ed the allantois, begins to develop on 
the digestive canal of the embryo, be- 
tween the two coats amnion and at a 
later period also encloses the embryo. 

"By the fifth or sixth day the al- 
lantois can be clearly seen as a bag 
or sac protruding from the navel inde- 
pendent of the yolk-sac. By this time 
rudiments of the wings and legs can 
be clearly seen as buds or small clubs 
standing out from the surface of the 
body which has grown a good deal. 

"At the tenth or eleventh day signs 
of the feathers can be distinguished, 
and motion of the animal is often per- 
ceptible when the egg is opened. 

"Generally about the nineteenth 
day the beak ruptures the membrane 
which divides off the air-chamber, and 
the chick for the first time breathes 
air through the lungs, after wihich the 
chick's blood gradually ceases to flow 



38 



into the veins of tlie allantois, which 
has completed its work and is no more 
needed. 

"Finally on the 21st day the chick 
breaks its shell by the aid of a sharp- 
pointed hard scale, especially provided 
for the purpose at the tip of the upper 
beak. 

"During the process of develop- 
ment the embryo has at first been ly- 
ing as a small object on the upper 



passes through the yolk-sac in this 
process. 

"Shortly before hatching, the en- 
tire remaining nutritive material of 
the egg is gathered within the con- 
siderable shrunken yolk-sac, and dur- 
ing the last fewi hours it is rapidly 
drawn into the abdomen, where it fur- 
nishes food for the newly-born chick 
en during the first day of its indiffer 
ent existence." 




Prairie State Eddy-current Distributor and System of Ventilation. 

Patented March 10, 1908. Patented 14, 1909. 
A— Inlet pipe from heater, which discharges air into box or enclosure, P. 
B— Metal radiators in the top of egg-chamber. 
C— Cotton-batting filling between inside and outside cases. 
D— Nursery. 
E— Eggs. 

H— Discharge outlet of the ventilating current of bottom of incubator. 
K— One of four pipes to discharge air from the above level of the eggs in the egg-cham- 
ber to false bottom underneath nursery. 

M— Strawboard dead-air space insulation in bottom of incubator. 



surface of the yolk; later on, as it in- 
creases in size definitness of form, it 
is clearly apparent that the neck of 
the yolk-sac is in connection with the 
umbilicus or navel. The material 
needs for growth is therefore derived 
primarily through the yolk; but as the 
original yolk-mother is absorbed, it is 
replaced by fresh material from the 
albumen drawn through the delicate 
membrane. The albumen forming 
much of that of the chicken, but it 



From the above it is obvious that 
eggs intended for hatching should be 
handled with care, or some of their 
membranes will be destroyed. They 
also should he turned occasionally so 
that the yolk does not settle to one 
side through the albumen or white 
as it must be completely surrounded 
by the white or it will not hatch. 

There are two methods of hatching 
— the hen and the incubator. 

Let us first study the hen. If given 



an opportunity the hen will lay her 
eggs away in some dark, secluded 
spot, and sit on them. Such actions, 
which are caused, it is said, by in- 
stinct, show us what kind of a place 
is best to set a hen in. The Ontario 
Agriculture College has been conduct- 
ing some experiments and studying 
the process of incubation, and, while 
their experiments have not gone far 
enough to determine all they hope to 
determine, they have shown that the 
hen in the process of hatching, gives 
off carbonic acid gas, and that the at- 
mosphere under the hen is by the 
process of condensation, saturated 
with moisture a number of times each 
day. It is therefore apparent that 
a nest on the ground in the shade, 
where it is nearly always moist, is 
the place a hen will choose for her- 
self, and is also an ideal place for 
scientific reasons. We know there 
are exceptions to this, as a hen's nest 
in the hay-mow, but new hay contains 
some moisture, and the aroma from 
the hay is a gas and who knows but 
what this gas plays an important part 
in incubation? 

Therefore, in setting a hen, choose 
a shady room as near the ground as 
possibl-e. I use a box about 16 inches 
square and six inches deep. The in- 
side of this is painted with carbolic 
lice-killer; then I put some moist earth 
in it, making it hollow; in the center, 
and cover the earth with straw. 

These boxes are set side by side 
with tight-board partitions between 
them, and several hens are set at one 
time. If the hens are all from one 
flock, and there are just as many 
nests as hens, therj will not be much 
trouble if a little care is exercised the 
first da> or two to see that only one 
hen gets on a nest. I always put the 



sitting hens on the nests after dark. 

I usually test the eggs the tenth 
day and if there are any unfertile 
ones, they are removed and the fertile 
ones doubled up and some of the hens 
are given a new lot of eggs. 

Testing eggs easily can be done by 
egg-testers, which are now offered for 
sale. They are made of tin and shap- 
ed like a lamp-chimney, with an open- 
ing on one side just the shape of an 
egg. By putting this chimney on a 
lamp, and holding an egg to it in a 
dark room, it -easiiy can be determined 
whether the egg is fertile or not. If 
fertile it will be dark except at one 
end; if infertile it will be perfectly 
clear. 

When the chicks come they should 
be left in the nest until they are 
thoroughly dry. They should not be 
fed until twenty-four or thirty-six 
hours after they are hatched. I will 
explain later about feeding them. 

The incubator method is better un- 
derstood from what we have said of 
the hen. The machine, if it has been 
used before should be washed out and 
aired so it will be "sweet" and clear. 
Every incubator manufacturer furnish- 
es directions for operating the ma- 
chine which should be followed close- 
ly to get the best results. 

Fresh air in th-e incubator room is 
essential. 

I cannot say which machine I 
wx)uld purchase if I were getting a 
new one as there are a number of 
good makes on the market. My choice, 
however, would be a hot air machine, 
with moisture sand pans and the best 
made machine possible. Because with 
moisture within there is expansion 
and contraction of the wood which, 
unless the machine is well made, will 
open the joints and let heat leak out. 



Chapter VIII. 
Secrets for the care of little chicks. 



The care of little chicks divides it- 
self in two methods — the "biddy" or 
hen method and the brooder or foster- 
mother method Have you ever no- 
ticed that 'when the chicks are only a 
day old, if the old hen is lifted off 
from them she will make a peculiar 
noise and the little ones will huddle 
down as close to the ground as pos- 
sible. This indicates that th-ey have 
already learned the mother call, and 
with the old hen the care and feeding 
is comparatively simple. I prefer leav- 
ing the chicks in the nest until the 
second day. 

When taking the hen from the nest 
I dust her with a good death-to-lice 
powder and greese each chick on the 
head and under each wing with head 
lice ointment. 

I prefer putting the hen in a coop 
with a slat front so the hen can reach 
out and teach the youngsters to pick 
grass. I boil the infertile eggs and 
use the yolks crumbled in oatmeal for 
the first food, which is generally given 
the first morning after the chicks are 
hatched. By evening I give dry grain 
cracked fine, which is sold almost 
everywhere as chick food, and this 
food is given exclusively for practic- 
ally the first three weeks. There is 
quite a difference in the quality of 
these foods. They should contain 
cracked wheat, hulled or cracked oats, 
cracked corn, beef scraps, and grit. 
Some use millet seed and kaffir corn 
but a little of the millet seed goes a 
long way and it is hard to digest. 

The little chick must have good 
care and attention until it gets its 
first feathers and watch must be kept 
to prevent chicken lice which are fatal 
to the little fellows. 

In the brooder the litter should be 
cut clover or chaff so if the chick does 
eat it, no harm will be done. When 
about seven days old the brooder 
chicks can be said to distinguish be- 



tween feed and non-feed. 

Do not over-feed little chicks is 
the secret of success. As I have shown 
the yolk has been absorbed into the 
abdomen of the little chick and this 
is sufficient to maintain life for sev- 
eral days hence it is not necessary to 
worry about the little chick starving 
during this period. They should be 
fed lightly four or five times a day. 
Be sure the first feed contains some 
grit or you will have indigestion. The 
crop is the point to watch. When it 
is full stop feeding. The last feed at 
night should be the heaviest. 

Do not feed too rich food. Green 
bone should not be fed to brooder 
chicks until after 10 days old. 

Summing up, the care of brooder 
chicks is divided into three periods. 

First, a continuation of the period 
of incubation, which lasts three or 
four days, while the yolk is \yemg as- 
similated. During this period the 
chicks require as high temperature 
as the incubator or about 100 degrees 
Farenheit. 



OIGHI Ltn 




RIGHT LEFT 




RIGHT (£FT 
13 ^pk iS^ft. 




This diagram shows 16 different ways of 
toe making young fowls. 

Second, the foolish or stupid per- 
iod, before they fully learn to discrim- 
inate between what they should or 
should not eat, which lasts from seven 
to ten days. During this period the 



41 



brooder chick should not be given a 
chance to -eat auything that is not 
beneficial. A.t this time they will pick 
at almost anything bright, such as a 
tack, salt or grit. Of course, the lat- 
ter will not hurt them — the others 
will kill them. 

Third, the selective period, or the 
time after the chicks are from ten 
days to four weeks old. From this 
time food may be left before them all 
the time, and if the food is before 
them, they will select what is best, 
and practically balance their rations. 
At the end of this period, or at four 
weeks old, they should be well covered 
with their first feathers, and therefore 
be able to protect themselves from 
cold and sudden showers. If the 
weather is favorable, they should then 
be allowed as much run on grass as 
possible. The young chick should have 
feed of a small size proportionate to 
itself. A number of poultry supply 
houses carry such feeds ready mixed 
and which also include grit. 

Cracked wheat, 25 pounds; cracked 



corn, 12 pounds; millet seed, 10 lbs.; 
oatmeal (steel cut), 10 lbs.; kaffir 
corn, 25 lbs.; rape, 3 lbs.; cracked 
peas, 10 lbs.; cracked rice, 2 lbs.; 
hemp seed, 2 lbs. Grit or beef scrap 
are often added, but as more grit and 
animal food is n>3eded in some places 
than others, it is just as well to feed 
them in hoppers with charcoal, and 
let the chicks help themselves. 

After chicks are six weeks old a 
good scratching food will contain the 
following: Whole wheat, 25 lbs.; 
coarse cracked corn, 20 lbs.; millet 
seed, 10 lbs.; oats, 25 lbs.; barley, 
10 lbs.; kaffir corn, 25 lbs.; cracked 
peas and buckwheat, 10 lbs. each, may 
be added and a small quantity of sun- 
flower seed is beneficial. 

If it is desired to force the chick 
for market the following makes a good 
food: Corn-meal, 5 lbs.; bran, 2 lbs.; 
beef scraps, 2 lbs.; middlings, 1 lb. 

As the chicks get older the grains 
used may be larger and at ten weeks 
they can eat almost any of the whole 
grains. 




Type of portable colony house used in Prairie State Experimental Plant — 6 by 8 feet in size. Open front style. 
Six feet high, four feet in rear, with drcpping-board two feet from the floor. Two roosts. Tight wooden partition 
in front— two feet high — to protect chickens from wind. This house is practically of the open-front type, but owing 
to the position of the glass sash and wooden awning, prevents storms and rain from blowing in and wetting the 
straw, which is the great fault with the ordinary open front houses. Wet litter is undesirable scratching material. 
This house may be used for laying birds for rearing young chicks in the summer-time and for a portable broodhouie 
in the early spring when fitted with Universal Hovers. The peculiar construction makes it adaptable to almost all 
sections of the country, both north and south. 

42 



Chapter IX. Pure Bred Stock. 



Pure-bred or Standard-bred poul- 
try has advantages over common stock 
for four purposes. It is more uniform 
both alive and when dressed for mar- 
ket. It has certain definite character- 
istics and if all the qualities desired 
are not found in one breed two breeds 
can be kept. It grows more rapidly 
on less food and the best specimens 
can be sold at many times the market 
value of such fowls. There is no ad- 
vantage a cross-bred fowl has over 
the average pure-bred fowl. Pure-bred 
fowls, raised on range are generally as 
hardy as any fowl could be. Of course, 
there are many breeders who coddle 
their fowls and consequently have 
sick chickens, but if the poultry hous- 
es we have described are used and a 
balanced ration is fed, there should 
be but little difficulty. 

It naturally follows if pure-bred 
fowls are kept, th-ey will be taken to 
the fairs and poultry exhibitions. Any- 
one desiring to do this, should get a 
copy of the Standard of Perfection 
which is for sale by all farm paper 
and poultry journal publishers, and 
study the requirements of your vari- 
ety. If fowls are kept on grass runs, 
they will be fit to showi almost any 
time, but if there is no grass, white 
fowls will have soiled plumage and 
should be washed. This washing re- 
quires three tubs of luke warm water; 
one Mith suds to thoroughly soap the 
fowl, and two for rinsing purposes, so 
all the soap will be rinsed out of the 
feathers. The fowl will have to be im- 
mersed, leaving its head out of the 
water, of course, and while the feath- 
ers are damp, they can be scrubbed 
with a sponge or soft brush until all 
the dirt is removed. Ivory soap or 
"Wool" soap is the best. When the 
feathers are clean the fowl should be 
rinsed in the othev tubs and placed 
near a fire to drj. Be careful to keep 
them on clean straw or they will get 
their fathers soiled again. 

The bird should be kept standing 
hear a warm stove or over a hot-air 



radiator. If it is a white bird some 
indigo may be added to the last rins- 
ing water, not quite as much as used 
in the laundry (indigo does not con- 
tain the acid whch is usually found in 
ordinary liquid bluing). Breeders of 
white birds also sprinkle their birds 
with corn starch when it is nearly 
dry which helps to dry the bird and 
gives him a fluffy appearance. 

At the winter shows a little butter 
rubbed on the combs and face of the 
fowl improves its appearance. Care 
should be taken, however, not to use 
too much. There is no law against 
thus grooming the fowl and it is per- 
fectly fair to do so. 

Mating fowls for the purpose of 
producing high-class pure-bred speci- 
mens is an art which is difficult to 
master and, really, it is never master- 
ed, because no one has yet been able 
to produce a specimen which has 
scored one hundred points. But this 
need not prevent us from trying to 
do our best. 

Prizes are won only by fowls which 
conform to certain rules and descrip- 
itons which are found in the Ameri- 
can Standard of Perfection. The mak- 
ers of these rules plan ideal descrip- 
tions to please the committee's taste 
in accordance with the specimens 
found at our leading exhibitions. They 
ask us to strive for certain character- 
istics which are remotely possible 
with the hope that perfection will be 
obtained. 

The problem which confronts th-e 
pure-bred breeder is to take specimens 
which are not perfection and attempt 
to produce perfection. 

There is a general rule in breeding 
that "like producers like." This is 
more generally true when the fowl 
is like its ancester and strong in vital- 
ity. The vigorous male is not difficult 
to pick out; he is shy and when 
caught will struggle to free himself, 
he will crow often and lustily, his 
comb will have a healthy red appear- 
ance, his body will be broad and th-ere 



will be plenty of meat on the breast 
bone; deficiency in any of these char- 
acteristics indicates weakness. The 
female is a little harder to determine 
but the hen that scratches vigorously, 
that "sings as she works" and has a 
good healthy red comb is generally of 
strong vitality. 

LINE BREEDING. 

The best method to follow is what 
is known as "line-breeding" which is 
best explained by referring to the at- 
tached diagram. Fig. 2. Select six 
or eight good yearling bens with typi- 
cal shape and good color and let them 
be represented by spot 1 and spot 2 
represent a first class male especially 
good in color. The progeny of this 
pen will be spot 3 and if the females 
were full sisters the youngsters would 
be half the blood of each sex. 

The second year we have three 
pens if desired. No. 4 consisting of 
the original females mated to a Cock- 
erel from No. 3; No. 5, the original 
male mated to pullets from No. 3, and 
No. 3 which will consist of a cockerel 
mated to the remaining pullets. These 
matings will give progeny with blood 
relations as indicated by fractions. Or 
if you only have room for two pens, 
a cockerel may be mated to the hens 
and the cock to the pullets. If you 
should happen to know the dam of 
the cockerel, she may be left with the 
cock. The offspring this year will be 
a study and will give the breeder valu- 
able lessons. He will see the tendency 
of his flock. Some of the old hens 
will have molted and the feathers will 
have faded and appear off color. The 
hen that has good standard color af- 
ter moulting is the strong colored bird. 
You will see by this time that your 
flock is getting too dark or too light. 
If the birds are any ?olor except white 
perhaps some white feathers will have 
shown themselves. Discard such 
specimens in most breeds, especially 
in the males. 

As a general rule we look to the 
.male for color and the female for 
shape. 

The illustration indicates the orig- 
inal females may be bred to their own 
sons for two generations and the third 
season crossed with a cockerel from 



No. 11 which is half the blood of the 
females and which will give offspring 
which is 11.16 the female blood. If 
this plan is followed the next cross, 
or four years from starting, you will 
have both cockerels and pullets which 
are 21.32 the female blood in pen No. 
14, and 21.32 the male side in pen No. 
18. In pen No. 16 you will have some 




of both sexes that are half the blood 
of the original male and half the blood 
of the female. 

Hence if you could have had four 
pens each year, in five years you will 
have a strain of your own. 

It is assumed that each year you 
have selected the best and discarded 
all specimens that were mismarked 
and disqualified. 

If you have not the room for four 
pens join with some neighbor in breed- 
ing a standard variety and exchange 
birds each year. 

Another way and an economical 
one, is to buy a setting of eggs or a 
pen f fowls from a good breeder. I 
believe most good breeders of pure- 
bred poultry are honest men; in fact, 
their whole success depends upon giv- 
ing good value for their money. A 
business like this that is built up 
by advertising can be very easily 



Ifilled by a very few "kickers," hence 
breeders must, in the great major- 
ity of transactions, give a fair deal. 

If you have pure-bred birds now 
and wish to improve them, I would 
recommend picking out ten or twelve 
of the best females and puting them 
in a pen by themselves; buy a first- 
class mat-e to go with them, and use 
their eggs to hatch the chickens in- 
tended for breeders next fall. If the 
hens were divided into two lots, the 
male changed from one pen to the 
other each day and the eggs from 
each pen kept separate and hatched in 



separate lots, no more males need be 
procured, as a cockrel from one pen 
could be mated to the h-ens of the 
other and the old cock bird mated to 
his best daughters. In this way a 
strain of uniformly shaped birds could 
be made in three or four years. 

If, however, your females were not 
of good shape and had any serious de- 
fects, it would take a long time to pro- 
duce high class exhibition specimens. 

The first plan of buying as good 
birds as your pocket book will permit 
and building up a strain of your own 
is the most satisfactory. 



Chapter X. Marketing Fowls. 



There is no subject of more im- 
portance to poultry raisers than mar- 
keting. Upon the poultryman's ability 
in this direction depends the success 
of many poultry plants, and there are 
a few general rules that will apply to 
the various cities located in different 
parts of our country. It seems, how- 
ever, that the citi-es of both the At- 
lantic and Pacific States offer a better 
market than our central state cities. 
This being so makes It difficult to 
treat this subject explicitly. It is 
easier to see why a large city wit>l its 
flat-dwellers is a better market than a 
country village, and, therefore, all 
large cities have a bett-er market and 
pay higher prices than small towns. 

Those who have studied the mar- 
ket conditions for the past ten years 
will have noticed a marked increase in 
the demand and the tendency has been 
for better quality, consequently the 
prices are better. Experience proves 
that anyone living within one hundred 
miles of a large city, who has the de- 
sire to raise high-class market poultry 
or eggs easily could find a market for 
them at profitable prices. There have 
tteen only two drawbacks to this kind 
of business. First, many have en- 
gaged, or practically secured, a mar- 
ket before going into the business, 
and when they finally got their poul- 
try plant in op-eration they failed ig- 
nominously in accomplishing what 



they had planned to do. The second 
difficulty arises from poultrymen not 
realizing the volume of the demand. 
I have been told of one poultryman 
who went to a large hotel to try to 
sell broilers, and who thought he could 
furnish one hundred per week. He 
was surprised to find that in the broil- 
er season that hotel would need at 
least one hundred per day, and occa- 
sionally they might have a banquet 
when they would need three or four 
hundred more. 

MARKETING BROILERS.— Broil- 
ers should be ready for the market at 
about ten weeks old. The last week 
they should be kept in close quarters 
and given all the forcing mash and 
cracked corn they will eat. Corn puts 
fat directly under the skin, and in 
markets calling for a yellow-skinned 
fowl, this is a great advantage. Some 
markets prefer them alive. When they 
are to be killed they should be killed 
by cutting the jugular vein inside the 
mouth with a poultry-killing knife, 
and dry picked. Leave shanks on and 
do not draw them. You must study 
what the people want and try to keep 
the quality uniform. For this purpose 
a standard breed of fowls has the ad- 
vantage over a lot of mongrels, and 
almost any of the American varieties 
are useful for this purpose. 

MARKETING ADULTS. — Here 
again we must study the needs of 




This Illustration shows how to convert a shed into a fattening house. 



purchasers, and unless fowls are to 
be marketed In large quantities, it is 
perhaps just as well to market them 
alive. They can be improved materi- 
ally by close housing and giving them 
a liberal feed of whole corn, grit and 
fresh water. Some have taken the 
trouble to fatten the fowls. To ac- 
complish this they are put in coops 
and fed a mash in troughs. 

The Iowa agricultural college re- 
cently conducted an experiment along 
this line as follows: Several dozen 
Barred Plymouth Rocks cockerels 
were purchased from the local pro- 
duce man at 13 cents a pound. They 
averag'ed 31/2 pounds. They were 
placed in slatted crates 6i/^ feet long, 
20 inches deep and 16 inches high, di- 
vided into three compartments. Each 
compartment held four birds. For 
convenience, portable houses 8 by 12 
feet, that held four crates, were used. 
In practice any shed that affords shel- 
ter and fresh air without drafts may 
be used. The birds were fed in troughs 
just in front of the crates. These 



troughs were removable, so they 
might be easily washed and cleaned. 

The ration which gave the greatest 
as well as the most economical gains 
was made up of equal parts by weight 
of corn meal, ground huller oats, 
ground hulled barley and beef scrap. 
To this was added twice its weight in 
buttermilk. No water was given. The 
same amount of well-soured milk in 
place of the buttermilk gave nearly 
equal results. This ration gave better 
results when mixed and allowed to 
stand 12 hours before feeding. The 
birds were first starved 24 hours and 
then fed twice daily as much as they 
would clean up in 20 minutes. The 
high art or secret of fattening poultry 
seems to rest with the feeder's ability 
to know when the fowls have had al- 
most enough. When that time is 
reached, the food should be removed 
at once. It is better to underfeed a 
trifle than to overfeed. If fowls are 
overfed, they "go stale" and refuse to 
eat well, and so fail to make good 
gains. 



At the end of two weeks the birds 
that had received the above ration 
had gained more than 20 pounds to 
the dozen. The cost a pound gain did 
not in any case exceed 6 cents and 
was generally nearer 5 cents. We 
sold the birds to the same man we 
bought them of at 15 cents a pound, 
although the price for springs had 
dropped half a cent. The difference 
paid was because of improved quality. 
In round numbers the profit over cost 
of feed was 25 cents a bird. This was 
made in a western town of about 4000 
inhabitants and is a conservative fig- 
ure. If situated near a larger place, 
where quality brings a greater prem- 
ium, the margin would naturally be 
greater. 

It is necessary to keep the coops 
and feeding troughs, as well as the 
shed, absolutely clean. If a contagious 
disease should be introduced, it would 
have an excellent opportunity to 
sweep through the flock. The danger 
of disease, however, where the farmer 
raises his own birds and raises them 
right is less than it is where one is 
blying promiscuously. It was found 
that it stimulated the appetites to 
give the fowls some succulent green 
food, as young clover, two or three 
times during the feeding period. Grit 
and charcoal were also fed twice dur- 
ing the period. The type of bird that 
has fattened best has been of the 
stocky, short-shanked, broad and deep- 
bodied, wide but short-headed sort. 
The narrow-bodied, long-legged, crow- 
headed kind will not fatten well. 

CAPONS. — There is a constantly 
growing demand for capons, and this 
furnishes a splendid market for sur- 
plus cockerels. All manufacturers of 
caponizing tools furnish full directions 
for caponizing free, so it is hardly 
worth while to explain the process 
here. In marketing, however, the 
neck, wing and thigh feathers are 
left on, and only the body feathers 
plucked. They usually bring three 



or four cents per pound more than 
other poultry at the same season, and, 
besides, when a cockerel is caponized 
he does much better, grows larger on 
less feed, and is not so troublesome. 

Capons and fattened poultry should 
not be marketed alive as they loose 
weight very rapidly. They should 
fast 24 hours before killing, and should 
be killed by bleeding in the mouth, 
and, preferably, dry picked. They al- 
ways look nicer packed in boxes than 
in barrels, and if the weather is warm, 
they should be packed in ice. 

In England and France the fowl is 
laid in a trough called a "shaping 
board", and a weight placed on it, giv- 
ing it a peculiar shape which seems 
to attract attention and bring better 
prices in those countries. 

MARKETING EGGS.— There is 
good money in producing eggs for 
market and if they are gathered fresh 
every day, so that it is known that 
they are fresh, there will be no trou- 
ble in finding customers for them. The 
great mistake egg-farmers make is to 
think, when they have a trade estab- 
lished, that anything will do. Even 
the best will fail sometimes. I once 
found an egg soft-boiled within two 
hours after it was laid to be bloody 
inside around the yolk, due probably 
to the rupture of some part in the 
laying process If this had gone to a 
city consumer, who was paying a high 
price, it would have caused untold 
damage to ray trade. Hence, only 
eggs from carefully fed hens should 
be sent to market. They should be 
clean, and, if soiled, should be washed. 

If you are sure your fowls or eggs 
are of first quality it is a good plan 
to put your name and address on the 
package. This is one of the simplest 
forms of advertising and probably the 
most effective. There is a great ad- 
vantage in business in a good reputa- 
tion, and the only way to get a good 
reputation is to produce good goods 
and put your name on them. 




Pair of Bronze Turkeys. 



Chapter XL Turkeys. 



Every poultryman should study 
turkey culture. The average poultry- 
man will tell you that turkeys "are 
hard to raise." This is, no doubt, to 
a certain extent, true, but it is large- 
ly due to the fact that we poultrymen 
have not fully learned the habits of 
the turkey. 

Our turkeys are direct decendents 
of the wild turkey which still inhabit 
some parts of the United States, and 
it is said that some of the largest 
specimens we have were produced by 
crossing large tame toms with wild 
turkey hens. This shows us the great 
difference between turkeys and chick- 
ens. Chick-ens have been undergoing 
a process of domestication since be- 
fore history began. Columella tells 
us the Romans kept poultry for pleas- 
ure and diversion, and records in India 
indicate that the Indian fowl was do- 
mesticated 1000 years B. C. Hence, 
it appears our chickens have been do- 



mesticated nearly three thousand 
years, but turkeys have been domesti- 
cated since the discovery of America. 
Is it any wonder then that when we 
apply similar methods of care and 
feeding in rearing turkeys as we do 
in rearing chickens our efforts prove 
fruitless? 

Turkeys are like our game chick- 
ens, the} are more susceptible to the 
parisites than are our other classes of 
fowls which have been longer bred in 
domestication and require food more 
similar to that which they would ob- 
tain if they ran wild, that is, more ani- 
mal matter in the summer months 
and seeds and berries in fall and win- 
ter. 

Turkeys are bred in the following 
standard varieties: Bronze, Narragan- 
sett, Buff, Slate, White and Black. 

From the farmer's standpoint the 
desirable characteristics are large 
frame, deep body and broad, full 



breast. The fancier farther requires 
that the bird walk with a stately car- 
riage and that his eye shall have an 
alert expression. 

The author admits that he has not 
tried raising turk-eys, hence he has 
consulted various famous turkey rais- 
ers and gives below a summary of the 
pointers which they have given. 

The turkey grows slowly and the 
Bronze variety does not reach matur- 
ity until about four years old. One 
noted breeder says she started with 
three pure-bred hens and a torn and 
recommends starting on a small scale 
and growing into the business. 

The turkey hen usually lays about 
thirty eggs per annum. Pullets from 
sixteen to twenty pounds and old hens 
from eighteen to twenty-three pounds 
are said to be the best breeders. Tur- 
key hens at laying times will pick up 
nearly all the food they will need 
and many who get poor results are 
themselves to blame because the tur- 
key hen is too fat. 

As turkeys do best when allowed 
free range a place should be fixed for 
them in a piece of timber or wood lot. 
A house boarded up tight on the east, 
north and west sides and having a 
good roof will make a splendid roost- 
ing and feeding place. If the roof is 
a shed roof and the high part is on 
the north side, a fence rail about three 
fe-st below the roof will be about right 
for a roost. 

Some have had trouble in getting 
the turkeys to use the houses prepar- 
ed for them, but when cold weather 
and frost come if they are fed under 
such a shed, they will soon learn to 
occupy the roost prepared for them. 

Sugar barrels make an ideal nest 
for turkeys One breeder described 
the nest as follows: She saws out two 
or three staves between the middle 
hoops and sets the barrel open end 
up in some dark corner. She puts 
straw in the bottom — and I would 
recommend dusting this straw thor- 
oughly with some lice powder or 
painting the inside of the barrel with 
a lice killer paint. Tack an old piece 
of gunny sack over the opening on the 
side and also over the top. Now put 
in some dummy eggs and your nest is 



ready for the setting turkey hen. If 
care is taken to wait until quite dark 
before i amoving the hen and she is 
gently carried under the arm and 
placed on this nest, no trouble will be 
experienced in getting her to sit, pro- 
vided, of course, she is broody. Next 
morning put food in the front of the 
barrel and raise the curtain. If she 
comes off all right — and when she 
goes back on lower the curtain again. 
If, however, she does not come off in 
a half hour, lower the curtain and 
wait until the following day and raise 
it again. If she does not come off tor 
three days she may be lifted off gent- 
ly and placed beside the food and left 
to go on the nest alone, when she is 
through eating. 

When the little poults appear — the 
first thing to do after they are dry is 
to grease their heads and under the 
wings with a good lice ointment. The 
hen may also be dusted with a lice 
powder. 

If you have plenty of range it is 
best to let the turkey hen run at large 
with the poults. She will rear as many 
as you will with all the coddling you 
can give them. The dew on the grass 
will furnish all the water they will 
need and the roadside will yield a sup- 
ply of bugs snails, etc., which are 
ideal food. 

May is an ideal month in which to 
hatch turkeys, as it will give time 
enough to get a good growth before 
fall. 

Another breeder feeds young poults 
as follows: — Mix milk curd with onion 
tops cut fine and pepper grass cut 
fine seasoned with black pepper and 
fed morning, noon and night. Table 
scraps and raw eggs (infertile eggs 
may be used) are added when obtain- 
able. Young turkeys should have grit 
before them at all times and after a 
day or two sound wheat may be mixed 
with the food. 

Some prefer to let the poults run 
with the hen as soon as taken from 
the nest, while others recommend 
keeping them in close quarters under 
shelter until they are six weeks old. 
I believe this depends largely upon 
the climate and season and kind of 
shelter in the run. On prairie land. 



with few trees, pernaps it would be 
best to confine tbem. 

Care should be taken not to over- 
feed and if confined — the coop should 
be painted once a week with lice 
paint especially in July and August. 
Turkeys should be fed and kept 
separate from other fowls especially 
young turkeys as a pick from a chick- 
en is apt to kill the poult. 

One writer has summed up the 
care of turk-eys as follows: "First, 
have vigorous parent stock, not over- 
fat. Take care the poults are not 



chilled the first two or three weeks of 
their lives. Be careful not to over- 
feed the poults, as they require very 
little feed during the first three weeks; 
after that feed all they will eat three 
times i>er day until they are ready for 
market. Be sure and keep them free 
from vermin. It is almost impossible 
to cure a droopy poult. If one is 
droopy, try to find the cause and re- 
move it before the fiock is affected. 
Growing turkeys will do better with 
no human attention than with too 
much." 



Chaper XII. Ducks. 



There is no fowl — from what I 
have seen — that appears to be so little 
understood as the duck. As raised 
on a good many farms, especially in 
the West, they are a great nuisance; 
but in other sections, where their re- 
quirements are understood, they are 
the most profitable variety of poultry. 
Where else in animal creation do we 
find a fowl which can be made to grow 
from a duckling just hatched to more 
than 5 lbs. in eleven weeks, as has 
been done with Pekin Ducks, time and 
time again? 

The Standard breeds of ducks are 
the Pekin, Aylesbury, Rouen, Black 
Cayuga, Colored Muscovy, White 
Moscovy, Gray Call, White Call, Black 
East Indian, Crested White, and In- 
dian Runner. Of these varieties the 
Call duck and the Black East Indian 
are the Bantam or miniature, and the 
Crested is purely ornamental. All of 
the other varieties are considered 
profitable. 

Of the market varieties, undoubt- 
edly there are more of the Pekins 
raised in this country than any other, 
but in England the Aylesbury and 
Rouen are much in demand. The In- 
dian Runner is a new breed noted for 
its egg-laying characteristics. 

As the weight of the several vari- 
eties is an item from a market stand- 
point, I add the weights of the lead- 
ing market varieties. 



The Pekin adult drake should 
weigh 8 lbs., young drake 7 lbs., 
Adult duck 7 lbs., and young duck 6 
lbs. The Aylesbury and Rouens should 
weigh one pound heavier for each spe- 
cimen than the Pekins. 

The Muscovy adult drake should 
weigh 10 lbs., the young drake, 8 lbs.; 
the adult duck, 7 lbs., and the young 
duck, 6 lbs. 

The Indian Runner drake should 
weigh 41/^ lbs., and the duck 4 lbs. 

As was. said at the beginning of 
this chapter, many people do not un- 
derstand ducks. They differ from 
poultry in that they seem to do best 
on low wet land, and are just in 
their element when there is a shower. 
Further, while poultry thrive and g'et 
fat on whole corn, the Pekin duck will 
really lose flesh if fed nothing but 
hard-shelled corn, as is done by a good 
many farmers. The duck requires a 
much more bulky food than poultry, 
and the proportion of ground grain to 
the coarse feed should be about the 
same as is fed to dairy cows where 
they feed about a forkful of hay to a 
gallon of ground food. Of course, the 
duck will not enjoy dry hay, and as it 
has no teeth the hay will have to be 
chopped into half or three-quarter 
inch lengths, and when so chopped a 
forkful will not make such a great 
bulk, after all. 



50 




White Pekin Ducks. 



A splendid feed for adult ducks in 
laying condition is as follows: Fifty 
per cent (dry measure) corn meal,' 15 
per cent wh,eat bran, 15 per cent 
green foods (cooked vegetables, such 
as potatoes, turnips or chopped clover 
hay), 12 p-ar cent beef scraps, 8 per 
cent coarse sand or grit. Mix w^ith 
water to a crumbly state and feed 
twice a day — morning and evening. 
After the laying season is over, the 
corn-meal may be reduced and coarse 
flour or ground oats added. 

A duck does not seem to mind the 
cold, as they are found puddling in the 
frozen lakes if there is any opening 
in the ice, although excessive cold re- 
tards their laying. It requires room 
to exercise, and is very restless, al- 
ways being on the move. Therefore, 
while in making a poultry home I 
like the idea of going from pen to pen, 
in duck culture I prefer a passage way 
so the ducks will be disturbed as little 
as possible by the passing of attend- 
ent. 

The Pekin duck is v^ery easy to 



handle and seldom gets over a two- 
foot fence. On some of the large duck 
farms the floor of the duck-house is of 
cement, sloping to the opening 
through which the ducks pass in 
and out. On the higher part of the 
floor some straw is placed as a resting 
place for the ducks during the night. 

A water supply for ducks is very 
essential. It is not necessary to have 
water to swim in, although some 
strongly advocate it for ducks intend- 
ed for breeding. 

If the food is fed dry and crumbly 
as directed, it will be noticed the 
ducks will eat a couple of mouthfuls 
and then run to the water and drink 
a little, and will thus pass to and fro 
through the meal. Therefore, it is 
necessary to replenish the water sup- 
ply at each feeding time. A shr.llow 
trough is a very handy contrivance 
for this purpose. 

Duck eggs require twenty-eight 
days to hatch, and for feed for the 
young ducklings I have found the fol- 
lowing to be excellent: 



1. From the time of hatching to 
seven days old, feed equal parts (dry 
measure) corn-meal wheat bran and 
No. 2 grade flour ,with ten per cent of 
this bulk coarse sand. Mix with wa- 
ter to dry cru-ibly state and feed four 
times a day, commencing at 6 a. m. 
and then each four hours. 

2. From seven to fifty-six days old, 
feed equal parts (dry measure) corn- 
meal, wheat bran and No. 2 grade 
flour; adding to this 10 per cent of 
the bulk beef scraps, 10 per cent 
coarse sand, and 12 1/^ per cent green 
foods (green rye, clover, oats, etc.). 
Mix with water to dry crumbly state 
and feed four times a day. 

3. From sixty to seventy days old 
feed two parts (dry measure corn- 
meal, one part wheat bran, one part 
No. 2 grade flour, 12% per cent of the 
bulk beef scraps, 10 per cent coarse 
sand, and 12 i^ per cent green food. 
Mix with water as before described 
and feed three times per day, morn- 
ing, noon and night. Give the last 
feed just before sundown. 

If your ducks are Pekin of good 
stock, you should have at the end of 
seventy days a duck weighing about 
5 lbs. The other varieties will not 
grow quite so fast. 

Among the eastern duck raisers 
dry picking of ducks for market seems 
to have the preference, and pickers, 
when once they get their "hands in", 



are able to pick about three dozen per 
day. The picker's outfit consists of a 
chair, a box for feathers, and a couple 
of knives, one knife sharpe'^ed on 
both edges and point for bleeding, and 
one dull for picking the down and pin 
feathers. The bird is taken between 
the knees, and, holding the bill open 
with the left hand, a cut is made 
across the roof of the mouth just be- 
low the eyes. The bird is then stunned 
by hitting it on the head with a sharp 
blow with a hammer handle. The 
picker then sits on the chair and holds 
the duck in his lap with its head be- 
tween one knee and the feather box. 
The feathers should be carefully sort- 
ed while picking; the pins are thrown 
away, and the body feathers with the 
down are thrown in the box. 

After the birds are picked, they 
should be carefully washed and 
plumped by placing in a barrel of ice- 
water. They should remain on ice 
until it is necessary to pack for mar- 
ket. In packing, the bottom layer 
should be packed back down, then a 
layer of ice, and all the other layers 
should be breast down with some 
chopped ice between each layer. 

When we remember that a four 
or eight pound duck can be produced 
in about ten weeks, and when ducks 
bring some thirty cents a pound in 
Boston — in February — it would seem 
as though there was some money in 
raising ducks. 




Guinea Fowl 




Toulouse Geese. 



Chapter XIII. Geese. 



Geese, like ducks, are comparative- 
ly easy to raise, and yet by some 
farmers are considered a nuisance on 
account of the large amount of grain 
they eat. But geese should not be fed 
much grain; in fact, during the sum- 
mer, if allowed to run on pasture, 
they will get sufficient nourishment 
from the grass, and all that it is nec- 
essary to supply is drinking water. Of 
course, if there is a brook in the pas- 
ture, the artificial supply of water will 
be unnecessary. 

There are seven varieties of geese 
recognized by the American Poultry 
Association: The Toulouse, Embden, 
Gray African, White Chinese, Brown 
Chinese, Gray Wild or Canadian, and 
Colored Egyptian. 

The Gray goose is grayish shading 
into black on neck, back and breast, 
and on under part of body, and fluff 
are white. 



The White goose is white all over. 

The standard weights of geese are: 

Adult Young Adult Young 

Gander.Gander.Goose.Goose 



Toulouse 

Embden 

African 

Brown China 

Canadian 

Egyptian 



lbs. 

20 

20 

20 

12 

12 

10 



lbs. 

18 

18 

16 

10 

10 



lbs. 

18 
18 
18 
10 
10 



lbs. 
15 
16 
14 



There are many farms with waste- 
places on them which could be turned 
into profit by using these waste-fields 
for geese pastures, especially if they 
have a pond or spring on them. In 
such a place they need practically no 
care except perhaps to keep them 
from wild animals, and the simplest 
kind of houses will do for shelter, as 
there are very few days in winter but 
what geese will enjoy being out in 
the open air. 



53 



Geese have been kown to attain 
the age of forty years, and they re- 
tain their laying and hatching quali- 
ties through life, but ganders should 
not be kept for breeding after three 
years. 

In mating — some mate in pairs and 
others mate two geese to one gander — 
but the pairs need not be kept separ- 
ate. The breeding stock should be 
two years old, and should be procur- 
ed in the fall and turned at once on 
the pastures where they will find food 
sufficient until frost comes. 

During winter a splendid ration 
can be made from equal parts (by 
measure) of bran, middlings and corn- 
meal, add about 5 per cent of this 
bulk of beef scraps and 10 per cent of 
green food. This will make a good 
morning food, and at night some 
cracked corn will do very nicely. 

The breeding season really begins 
in February; they will make their 
own nests of straw and feathers, and 
when they have laid a dozen or more 
eggs, they will become broody. A 
broody goose is easily broken up if 
placed in a dark box and fed only 
water for three days. The first and 
second sittings can be placed under 
hens, but the goose should be allowed 
to sit on the third sitting. It takes 
thirty days to incubate goose eggs, 



and it is said that about twenty or 
twenty-five days after setting it is well 
to dip the eggs for one minute in 
water heated to 104 degrees Fahren- 
heit. 

When the eggs are hatched, leave 
the gooslings in the nest for twenty- 
four hours, when they should be thor- 
oughly dry. They can then be remov- 
ed to a roomy coop. The first feed 
should be clipped grass, after which 
a little corn-meal, slightly moistened, 
can be given. This ration will do three 
times a day for the first few days, 
after which equal parts (dry measure) 
of bran, middlings and steamed cut 
clover or cooked vegetables is the 
proper food if fed three times daily 
until about eight weeks old, when they 
can be penned to be fattened. 

While fattening they should be 
kept as quiet as possible. They will 
fatten on almost any grain, such as 
oats, wheat or corn, and, of course, 
give them plenty of fresh water to 
drink. Some'fattenei's recommend on- 
ly ground food mixed as follows: — ■ 
Corn-meal with beef scraps; ten meas- 
ures of the former to two of the lat- 
ter. By this process at ten weeks old 
they should be ready for market, anu 
weigh between eight and ten pounds. 

Killing and dressing is done simi- 
lar to the method desribed for ducks. 



^^^^^^ 




Chapter XIV. 
Poultry Diseases and Some Remedies. 



If all the directions, given in the 
foregoing chapters, are followed, the 
stock should be healthy, but the best 
of us are often troubled with diseases 
in our flocks, which come from un- 
known sources. To guard against this 
care should be exercised in buying 
fowls to get healthy specimens. 

Poultry troubles are listed as fol- 
lows: 

1. External, as poultry parasities 
and accidents. 

2. Digestive troubles. 

3. Respiration troubles. 

It takes a little experience with 
fowls in order to be able to determine 
at first glance just what is the trou- 
ble, when a fowl is sick. All fowls 
will sit around and look dull for 
a few minutes or even an hour a day, 
and during the moulting season they 
loose their appetite and are generally 
dumpy. But in the summer and even 
in the winter the healthy fowl, if prop- 
erly cared for, will be generally alert 
and active. 

The main things to look for in try- 
ing to diagnose the disease of a sick 
chicken are chicken lice and catarrhal 
troubles which I will try to explain in 
what follows. 

The over fat fowl is usually short 
winded and in catching such a fowl 
they will generally get out of breath, 
breath hard and their comb and wat- 
tles will turn purple. This is not a 
disease, although I have been called 
upon by poultrymen to tell what ailed 
such fowls. 

For a general rule on the farm the 
best remedy for accidents or diseases 
is the hatchet, as the time consumed 
in fussing with a sick chicken is usu- 
ally worth much more than the fowl is 
worth. Therefore, this chapter on 
poultry remedies will be more in the 
nature of preventive remedies than 
cure-all remedies. 



The greatest trouble the average 
poultryman experiences is from the 
body-louse which infest the fowls. 
These are usually found around the 
hen roosts and nests. Where the first 
louse comes from, and how it gets on 
the hen, we do not know, but its ob- 
ject in getting on the fowl is to suck 
its blood and next morning it is known 
as a red mite— it is colored red by the 
blood which it has sucked from the 
chicken. Later the blood turns a dark 
brown and the hen-louse turns color 
also. About this time it is ready to lay 
its eggs, and how many it lays I do 
not know, but they will be found on 
the end of the roost and along the 
cross-pieces, looking like a fine white 
powder. In cold weather it takes them 
a long time to hatch, but in August 
they will multiply very rapidly. I have 
noticed that a hen set in June on a 
box which had been painted vrith car- 
bolic paint just before setting, has 
been literally covered with lice in 
twenty-one days. 

When there are only a few they 
infest the fowls only at night, and hide 
in some crevice on the roost during 
the day ,but as they multiply they are 
found all over, and any one going into 
the house at night is liable to get 
some on his person. They cause the 
fowl to become pale and look tired 
from loss of blood, and restlessness. 

To rid the poultry house of these 
pests, there are three methods. Some 
inventors have constructed traps un- 
der the roosts into which these mites 
will go during the day, and they are 
killed by maceration. 

Others have recourse to insecti- 
cides, either liquid or powder. These 
articles are effective because the 
chicken louse breathes directly 
through its sides and cannot live in 
an atmosphere permeated with these 
odors or particles. The liquid can be 
purchased as cheaply as it can be 
made. The powder depends largely 

66 



upon being pulverized minutely, hence 

it is best to buy this ready mixed also. 

SCALY LEG. 

Another parasite is known as scaly 
leg. This is a yellowish substance 
which gathers or grows under the 
scales on the feet of the chick^en. 
They can be removed by soaking the 
feet in water into which some good 
antiseptic (such as peroxide of hydro- 
gen) has been put, and then allowing 
them to dry. After they are dry they 
may be anointed with carbolized vase- 
line. One cause of scaly legs is damp 
quarters. 

BUMBLE FOOT. 

Bumble foot is a hard sore or corn 
which comes on the ball of the foot of 
poultry. Some varieties seem to be 
bothered with this more than others, 
and it is said it is due to the bird 
alighting from the roost on some hard 
substance. 

Here is a case where the fowl 
might just ii-s well be got rid of, be- 
cause if it is a male he will not breed 
in this condition, and three or four 
weeks well be lost in doctoring. 

A treatment, however, is to wash 
the foot with warm water, then paint 
it with iodin-e, and wrap up with a 
soft cotton bandage. It should be treat- 
ed with iodine daily. After a few days 
it will become soft. Then lance it and 
squeeze out all the pus, and be sure 
to get the core. If the core cannot be 
found, anoint with carbolated vaseline, 
and bandage. The core will come out 
in a day or two. After the core comes 
out the foot will heal and get well. 
ACCIDENTS. 

A broken leg or similar accidents 
to farm poultry is sufficient excuse to 
kill the fowl and put it out of misery. 
FIGHTING. 

Some time male birds will become 
quarrelsome, and begin fighting. If 
their heads or combs are badly torn, 
wash them with boracic-acid water, 
made by putting a teaspoonful of bor- 
acic acid into a cup of water, and 
bring to a boil. After washing dust 
some boracic acid on the wound. 
DIGESTION TROUBLES. 

The chief source of these troubles 
are mouldy feed, or feeding on con- 
taminated ground on which poultry 



has run for several seasons, or from 
feeding a ration which does not give 
the fowl proper nourishment. 

The remedy here is to remove the 
cause. Procure sound grain — plow up 
the runs, or get the food element that 
is missing. This trouble, however, is 
not noticed until the fowls are dump- 
ish or sick. If they are in this condi- 
tion, I would procure some good poul- 
try food which has the proper propor- 
tion of condiment and spices and use 
as directed. Some people argue against 
condimental feeds but as we do not 
expect a fowl to live a natural life I 
can see no harm in feeding anything 
which will increase its growth or egg 
production. 

Formulas to stimulate growth, di- 
gestion and egg production are very 
numerous. A number of stock foods 
and stock tonics are offered to the 
public. The worst difficulty with such 
tonics is the average breeder is apt 
to overdo and feed too much. For 
fowls which are slow to moult and run 
down in the late fall months I give the 
following formal which can be ob- 
tained locally and mixed at home: 

Powdered Fenugreek 8 oz. 

Pottassium Nitrate 4 oz. 

Powdered Gentian 16 oz. 

Powdered Ginger 4 oz. 

Sulpher Flour 2 oz. 

Sulphate of Iron 2 oz. 

Black Antimony 2 oz. 

Flax Meal 8 oz. 

Common Salt 8 oz. 

Mix thoroughly. A heaping teaspoon- 
ful mixed thoroughly into a quart of 
mash feed is about right for 20 adults 
fowls. 

CHOLERA. 
Indigestion or bowel trouble has 
sometimes been called cholera, but 
cholera is an entirely different disease 
due, no doubt, to a parasite which gets 
into the digestive canal. Several have 
advertised a cholera cure. The worst 
feature is that when chickens or tur- 
keys have real cholera they are nearly 
all dead before you can get the rem- 
edy. I believe if the soil is not con- 
taminated and if the fowls are not 
weakened by body lice the ordinary 
poultry food desribed above will ward 
off cholera. If, however, the fowls 



once get a real case of cholera they 
had better be destroyed, and a new 
flock procured, — after the buildings 
and quarters have been disinfected 
with either a disinfecting candle or a 
spray of disinfectant or a coat of 
white wash, and the grounds sprink- 
led or sprayed with air slaked lime or 
a solution of some good disinfectant. 

If these rules are adopted it should 
stop th^^ trouble. Feed some of the 
condition powder it will help to stimu- 
late the digestion. But, if this does 
not stop it a pill made of Rhubarb 5 
grains. Chalk 5 grains and Cayenne 3 
grains given each fowl morning and 
night will correct the trouble. This 
is an old English remedy. 

Respiration Troubles. 

Perhaps the most common trouble 
with poultry is troubles of the lungs 
or nose or the breathing organs of the 
fowl. 

This is largely due, no doubt, to 
our method of confining under do- 
mestication. The fowls are normally 
an outdoor or fresh-air animal, and 
when we confine them in warm, close 
quarters for a while, and then let them 
out in the cold, or when there is a 
very sudden change of temperature, 
they are liable to take cold, and it in- 
variably settles in the nostrils, throats 
or lungs, and they have roup, canker, 
or consumption. 

Now what shall we do? We should 
build our houses on the fresh-air plan 
as described, and not coddle the fowls 
too much. Have you noticed the men 
who work out-doors all day in winter? 
They become hardened to the cold, 
and really are healthier for it. But one 
who works indoors, where the ther- 
mometer is about 70 all day, will easi- 
ly take cold if exposed to a draught or 
bad weather. So with fowls. Further, 
a plant raised under glass is never as 
hardy as one raised in the open. This 
is due, it is said, to the fact that glass 
prevents the violet rays of the sun's 
light from reaching the plant. Like- 
wise animals are susceptible to this 
lack of violet light, and of course a 
curtain front or open front permits 
this. 

I have not yet seen a book which 
definitely describes the difference be- 
tween catarrh, roup and canker. They 



seem to be different degrees of the 
same thing, although catarrh is the 
mildest form, and, if proper remedies 
are used, can, no doubt, be cured. 

There are two methods of treat- 
ment. In the first place a fowl with 
catarrh of the nostrils is apt to com- 
municate this trouble to all others of 
the same flock by dipping its bill in 
the drinking water. Therefore some 
drug should be put in the drinking 
water, and as such fowls have great 
thirst some medicine can be added. 
A good common remedy is Powdered 
Sulphate of Copper, a teaspoonful to 
three gallon of drinking water, or put 
a tablespoonful of permanganate of 
pertassium in a pint bottle of water 
and add a tablespoonful of this solu- 
tion to the drinking water. In addi- 
tion feed some stimulating poultry 
food as described above. 

If catarrh is not fought and cor- 
rected it soon turns into roup, in 
which the discharge is a yellowish, 
cheesy matter having a very offensive 
odor. To cure this requires a hospital 
in which light, heat, moisture, etc., 
can be fully controlled. Therefore I 
recommend to all to use the axe and 
chopping block and dispose of the 
fowl, as the feed, time and labor spent 
will be practically wasted. 

Canker is a similar looking and 
smelling trouble as roup, but is us- 
ually local. I have had birds with 
a swelling in one spot on the face, 
probably between the nostril and the 
eye. If this is allowed to come to a 
small whitish head-spot, it may be 
lanced, and the matter squeezed out; 
and if the wound is thoroughly clean- 
ed with disinfectant it will heal up as 
though nothing had happened. But if 
the fowl is only worth a few cents it 
is hardly worth the trouble. 

Diphteretic roup is somewhat dif- 
ferent, it affects the throat, and is, I 
believe, generally due to damp quar- 
ters. It usually comes so quickly that 
your fowl is dead before you know it 
If you pry open its mouth you will 
find its throat stopped up with roupy 
matter. Such a fowl should be burned 
or buried in some out of the way 
place, and its companions moved to 
more comfortable quarters. The whole 
flock should be fed wholesome food. 



57 



and be given the tonic feed as well as 
plenty of grit, charcoal, beef scraps 
and oyster shell. 



These are the general diseases, and 
it will be noticed that it is usually 
more profitable not to bother much 
with a sick chicken. 



Chapter X. 
Advertising and Selling Suggestions. 



Everyone who raises pure-bred 
fowls has the opportunity to sell stock 
and eggs at prices ranging higher than 
the regular mark*et prices. But to do 
this will require some advertising and 
letter writing. 

The first step in advertising is to 
place a sign on your "gate post" or 
some other conspicious place. 

The next step is to place a card 
in your local paper during the egg 
season. I have a neighbor who dis- 
poses of all of her hen's eggs in 
March April and May at from 60 cts. 
to $1.00 per 13 according to the quan- 
tity taken. It takes just about as 
much talk, letter writing and trouble 
packing to sell one sitting as it dees to 
sell 50 eggs. 

In the fall surplus stock can be 
sold in the same way. 

As you improve your stock and 
after you have won some prizes at a 
poultry show — the more prominent the 
show the better is your opportunity — 
you can then go into the poultry pa- 
pers for some general advertising. 

Here is a secret about poultry 
paper advertising. It is better to go 
into one paper big than to several 
poultry papers small. The size of the 
advertisement will depend upon two 
things: (1) What you have to say, 
and (2) the character of the other ad- 
vertisements in the paper. 

What you have to say is: "Who 
you are, What you are and Where you 
are." What you are or what you have 
to sell is the most important and 
should be most conspicuous; the other 
points are secondary, and yet many 
poultry men advertise themselves 
rather than their poultry. Your ad- 
vertisement to be successful must in- 
spire confidence and convey some rea- 
son why others should prefer your 



stock or eggs. 

The other advertisements all have 
a bearing on your advertisement. If 
there are any irresponsible advertis- 
ers in the paper or advertisers whose 
announcements indicate a "fake" by 
extravagant claims or otherwise, you 
had better look for another paper. 
Again, if your competitors are using 
page advertisements it will be diffi- 
cult for you to tell a convincing story 
in favor of your fowls or eggs in one 
inch single column. 

Advertising will bring correspond- 
ence and to lessen the letter writing 
you will want to get up some kind of a 
circular. 

For this purpose the folder or 
pamphlet that conveys general state- 
ments of your flock and what you per- 
sonally are doing will be the most 
effective. The size and shape will de- 
pend upon what you have to sell and 
tell. 

The plain statement of facts will 
be the most effective and remember to 
give details — your customers want to 
know everything. 

There are two seasons in the poul- 
try business. During the fall and win- 
ter you will have calls for stock and 
during the spring is the time for eggs. 

The value of a bird is difficult to 
determine. One hundred dollars for 
a pen of fine first class birds is not an 
out of the way price. I have often 
said that if I wanted to start in some 
leading variety on a big scale I would 
visit the leading breeder in that vari- 
ety, find from him his best birds, ask 
the price and pay it, provided he 
would give me a certificate that the 
birds I purchased were the best he 
had. 

A record should be kept of your in- 
quires so the future wants of your 
prospects will not be overlooked. 



58 



Chapter XYI. 
How to start in Itie Poultry Business. 



The great majority of failures in 
the poultry business are directly trac- 
able mistakes in getting started right 
and by failing to estimate the amount 
of capital required. Most men figure 
that if they have enough cash in sight 
to see them through the first twelve 
months that they will have plain sail- 
ing. They will, if they have figured 
conservatively and have no disasters; 
but they will have a much easier time 
of it if they start out with sufficient 
capital for two years. 

I am going to quote here some 
suggestions from a book which is be- 
ing widely circulated and then point 
out some of the "rocks" which must 
be avoided. He says: 

"With $1,000 to invest in the egg 
farming business, and $500 additional 
for living expenses the first season, 
you can earn eighty-one per cent, in 
return for your labor and the use of 
your capital. About an acre of ground 
is needed; and a chicken house 14x85 
feet facing the south, which will cost 
about $400. 

"This eighty-five foot contains a 
ten-foot feed room and floor space 
enough for 400 adult birds. Starting 
with 1000 day old chicks at 13 cents 
each, in ten pens, each equipped with 
moveable hovers, etc., there would be 
an expense of $228, as shown by the 
following account: Raising 80 per 
cent of the chicks to the age of three 
months would give you 400 pullets and 
400 cockerels, at a further cost of $144 
for feed (6 cents each a month.) In- 
terest and insurance for three months 
would amount to $15.00 Selling 380 
cockerels would bring $114 and leave 
you a flock of 400 pullets and twenty 
cockerels to grow to full maturity an(3 
remain fourteen months longer in the 
house at a monthly expense of 10 
cents each for feed, or a total of $559. 
By the end of the fourteen months 
these 400 pullets will have laid during 
the last 12 months 144 eggs each. 
At 3 cents a piece the income from 



eggs would be $1728. Marketing the 
flock at the end of this season would 
return $252. 

"Including interest and insurance 
at the rate of $5 a month the first 
season's business will have cost $1445; 
and you will have taken in $2,094, 
leaving you each in hand to the 
amount of $649, and a building and 
equipment valued at $470." 

Such is the plan suggested by one 
and while I do not say it is impossible 
for an experienced poultry man to do 
this, there are few beginners who can 
come anyway near such results. I 
must point out some discrepencies. 
In the first place an acre of ground is 
required ^ but nothing is said about 
cost, neither is there any allowance 
for rent of this land nor any figures 
given for cost of labor. It is a pretty 
good poultryman who can raise 80 
per cent of the brooder chicks and it 
must be remembered that the prices 
are thos^ obtained in New York and 
Philadelphia. 

Now with this plan the man starts 
out with $1500 and at the end of 14 
months he has $649 cash and a build- 
ing valued at $470 or $1,119. 

Personally I cannot see any big 
money in commercial poultry farming 
as an exclusive business unless suffi- 
cient capital is on hand to start on a 
large scale. It is quite apparent, how- 
ever, that if pure bred fowls were 
used many specimens and eggs could 
have b-een sold at much higher prices 
than market quotations, and there are 
a number of men in this country who 
are adding to their income by living 
in the suburbs on an acre or so of 
ground and raising pure bred fowls. 

There are many ways of getting 
started in such an undertaking. The 
only difference from commercial poul- 
try farming will be in the quality of 
the birds procured for breeding pur- 
poses—the houses and methods of 
feeding will be the same — and then 
you have a useful pastime which 



draws your mind away from Duslness 
cares and the outdoor exercise equips 
you to stand the strain of office or 
shop. 

Breeders of pure bred fowls usu- 
ally sell enough offspring to pay for 
the feed and advertising so that the 



eggs for hatcmng is practically all 
profit. 

In starting with pure bred fowls do 
not hesitate to buy the best pedigreed 
fowls obtainable even though the 
price seems high and follow closely 
the system of line breeding. 



Chapter XYII. 
The Man and his Methods. 



There are two methods of poultry 
culture: — Intensive and Extensive. 
The intensive method is keeping a 
large number in a small space; and 
the extensive is scattering them in 
corn fields and on range. The former 
is the city man's necessity, the latter 
is the farmer's opportunity. The for- 
mer requires much more labor and 
the houses must be cleaned and dis- 
infected every day, while the latter 
requires practically no attention— a 
thorough cleaning once a week in 
summer is sufficient. 

There have been some intensive 
methods desribed in the poultry pa- 
pers and in certain books as systems 
and they work out very well the first 
year. But the second year's experi- 
ence has been disappointing gener- 
ally because of lack of proper sanitary 
rules. If fowls are to be kept in 
closely confined numbers I would 
recommend covering the entire floor 
with concrete with proper drainage 
and once a month remove all litter 
and thoroughly renovate and disinfect 
using some good cresol disinfectant. 

I have tried to show in the pre- 
ceding pages that poultry-keeping is 
a simple undertaking. It is looking 
after details. These details are many 
but are easily mastered. 

The real secret or measure of suc- 
cess, however, is in the man himself. 
To get the best results there must be 
cleanliness and regularity. 

Dirt has been defined as "Matter 
out of Place." Chickens can follow 
after any other animal with advantage 
but compel them to live in an 
atmosphere contaminated with their 



own filth and trouble will begin at 
once. 

To poultry "dust" is not dirt. They 
thrive in road dust — it helps them to 
rid themselves of vermin and is their 
method of taking a "dry shampoo." 

Regularity depends upon the man 
or attendant. Poultry and especially 
young chickens should be fed shortly 
after they come off the roost in the 
morning — this is about sunrise. 

It requires some care and attention 
to do this but if persevered in, it will 
lead to success. 

Perhaps the question most fre- 
quently asked about poultry keeping 
is: How to Make the Most Money 
out of Poultry? 

I have no hesitancy in saying that 
by using this book as a guide and 
adopting any method that fits in with 
this plan should make a profit for you 
from your fowls whether you have iSO 
or 20,000. 

Right here let me say that the 
commonest error made by beginners 
in figuring on starting in the poultry 
business is in estimating the number 
of fowls one man can care for. I 
figure you will need one man to each 
five hundred adult birds to properly 
care for them, and do the hatching 
and rearing of their offspring. 

No man in business when he has 
success the first year in a store ex- 
pects to have a proportionate success 
the second year by multiplying his 
facilities a thousand times. It takes 
time to do this. You must remember 
that because fowls go in flocks and 
drink out ol the same vessels that by 
increasing your numbers you increase 



much more largely your liability to 
disease. 

There is more money in pure-bred 
stock than in mongrels. Single speci- 
mens have changed hands at three 
figures. Many specimens sell every 
year for $100 and in England £250 or 
.$1250.00 has been paid time and again 
for prize specimens. 

Pure bred birds also produce large 
profit from their eggs for hatching. 
$5.00 per sitting is a common prica 
and for sittings from choice matings 
$100.00 is regularly being asked. 

If you have the facilities you can 
make good profit in selling day old 
chicks. 



Another success secret is keeping 
a record of what you are doing. For 
this you need four books, (1) A jour- 
nal in which you record every cash 
transaction; (2) a ledger in which 
special accounts are kept or certain 
pages so you may know what each 
item, stock, feed, eggs, etc., yields in 
profit; (3) a diary in which you should 
keep a record of the weather, and 
wh-en you set fowls or start incubat- 
ing, etc.; and (4) an egg record so 
you may know what certain pens are 
doing — a workman's time book is 
handy for this purpose. This book also 
should contain the band numbers of 
special fowls for hcindy reference. 



Chapter XVII. Miscellaneous 
Suggestions 



HOW TO DESTROY RATS. 

Rats have cost me several hundred 
dollars and are the poultryman's 
worst enemy. Cement floors are good 
but the house should rest on a good 
foundation that goes below the frost. 
I put a cement floor in a house that 
rested on sills and next winter the 
rats got under the floor and made a 
comfortable home for themselves. 

I have tried traps to destroy rats 
but the best thing is a good cat. A 
cat can be trained to leave chickens 
alone with patience and perseverence. 
It does not require a stone or a stick 
to frighten a cat. If it knows your 
voice it knows when you scold. 

The cage trap is good as the fowls 
cannot get into it and I have caught 
as many as nine in one night. 

Poisons should be used with care 
and must be placed insid-e a box with 
a hole so small as to prevent fowls 
fi'om getting into it. Poisoned rats 
must be buried as soon as found or 
you will loose your fowls also. 

The time to exert the greatest care 
is in the fall as that is the time rats 
come in from the fields. 



Dogs, such as the Terriers, are 
also good ratters. Spaniels being 
bird dogs will give you trouble by 
catching chickens and it is difficult to 
break them from this habit. 

Disinfectants and cleanliness 
around the chicken house will help to 
tell Mr. Rat that he is not wanted; 
and by keeping all the grain or other 
feed which rats like in rat-proof bins 
you will not have much trouble keep- 
ing these pests away. 

ENCOURAGING MOULTING. 

It is natural for most animals to 
put on a new coat of hair or feathers 
in the fall. Fur covered animals shed 
their long hair in the spring but fowls 
do not moult until fall. By feeding 
well we incourage egg production and 
postpone the moulting season. But 
as eggs are more valuable in the win- 
ter it is best to slack up on the feed- 
ing about September for a couple of 
weeks and this will cause the feathers 
to "dry up." By starting again with 
full feed with plenty of grit and rich 
food like Sunflower Seed, Hemp Seed, 
gluten meal or beef scraps, a new 
coat of feathers will start and the old 
ones will drop off. The male birds 



61 



DEC 9 



had better be shut up by themselves 
during this period.. 

WHITEWASH ONCE A YEAR. 

Whitewash is the most suitable 
means for "house cleaning" a poultry 
house ana this should be done at least 
once a year. August is a good time 
for this, and who can say how many 
thousand chicken lice eggs you may 
destroy by applying this cleanser at 
this time. The best whitewash for 
outside or inside use is made by fol- 
lowing the U. S. Government formula 
which is as follows: 

Half a bushel unslacked lime, slack 
with warm water, cover it during the 
process to keep in the steam; strain 
the liquid through a fine sieve or 
strainer; add a peck of salt previous- 
ly well dissolved in warm water three 
pounds of ground rice boiled to a thin 
paste and stir in boiling hat; half 
pound of powdered Spanish whiting 
and a pound of glue which has been 
previously dissolved over a slow fire, 
and add five gallons hot water to the 
mixture, stir well and let it stand for 
a few days, covered up from the dirt. 
It should be put on hot. One pint of 
the mixture will cover a square yard, 
properly applied. Small brushes are 
best. There is nothing that can com- 
pare with it for outside or inside 
work, and it retains its brilliancy for 
many years. Coloring matter may be 
put in and made of any shade, Spanish 
brown, yellow ochre, or common clay. 

HOW TO KEEP MALE BIRDS FROM 
FIGHTING. 

It may sometimes be necessary to 
put males that have been separated 
for some time into th-a same pen. In 
accordance with their natural instinct 
they will quarrel and fight — at least 
many breeds will. This may be pre- 
vented by putting a "hobble" on them. 
Use a stout cord and fasten their legs 
together so they can only take short 
steps. To fight they will have to run 
and after they fall over a couple of 
times it will take the fight out of 
them. 

The English game breeders have 
found that by trimming the point of 
the bill of the most quarrelsome bird 
will tam-e it instantly. 



FEATHER AND EGG EATING. 

Fowls sometimes form the habit 
of eating each others feathers. I have 
seen a male with nearly all the feath- 
ers pulled off the neck by his mates. 
When fowls do this and when they eat 
the freshly laid egg it indicates im- 
proper feeding, generally due to lack 
of green stuff. To break these habits 
add cut alfalfa or color to the mass 
and omit some of the corn from the 
grain food; also put oyster shell and 
grit into the mash, adding enough so 
you will see pieces of it in the feeding 
through after all the rest of the mash 
is eaten. In England they add powder- 
ed sulpher to the mash feed, as much 
as three teaspoonsfull to 20 fowls. 

HOW TO BREAK UP BROODY HENS 

The best way is to take them as 
soon as they set on the nest at night 
and put them in a box with slats on 
the bottom and which is elevated off 
the ground. Keep them in such a box 
for two days without food, but give 
them water to drink. The third day 
they should be put into a pen well lit- 
tered with straw. By making them 
scratch and keeping them hungry 
they will soon give up setting and 
begin to lay again. 

SOME BROODER DONT'S. 

Don't allow brooder chicks to hud- 
dle tog'ether; the hover should be 
made to prevent this. 

Don't allow the drinking water to 
get foul. It should be always clean. 

Don't let the hover get too cold; 
with the hen the chick always has a 
warm hover. 

Dont' let the chicks get wet. Damp- 
ness, Disease, Death — Three steps to 
ruin. 

Don'i crowd the brooder, fifty 
chicks fill a "one-hundred-cl ick" 
brooder nicely. 

Don't let the chicks get too hungry. 
Feed little, and about four times a 
day. 

Don't feed sloppy foods. Dry grain 
will do the work if the mixture is 
right, so why take chances with wet 
mashes? 

Don't be afraid of over-feeding a 
chick. A dry mash in a hopper will 
save lots of steps. 



Dou't forget thai, chicks must have 
grit; it is needed to make feathers 
and bone, and aids digestion. 

SEPARATING THE SEXEb. 

When the chicks are about three 
months old, the cockerels should be 
separated from the pullets and kept 
separate until the breeding season. 
This is better for both sexes. The 
cockerels do not quarrel so much, and 
the pullets are not "bossed" so much 
and thrive better. A splendid colony 
house for this purpo&a is described as 
f ollov s : 



Ground measurement 7x4 feet; 

front 4 feet, rear 2 feet. The front 
has a door in the center and is all 
covered with one-inch mesh wire net- 
ting to keep out enemies. An outside 
door hinged at the top so it can be 
swung up like a porch roof during the 
day and let down at night in cold 
weather, completely covers the front. 
The back and ends are built of floor- 
ing or drop siding, and the roof is 
matched boards covered with roofing 
paper. Such a house will accommo- 
date twenty-five to thirty pullets. 




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